‘Innocent as Sin’ By Elizabeth Lowell
Published by Avon. May 2008.ISBN: 978-0-06-082984-1

In the latest of her 60-plus novels, Elizabeth Lowell tells a tale inspired by facts [relatively] ‘ripped from the headlines’ – brutal wars far from home shores, money laundering, the smuggling of blood diamonds, the inter- and trans-national illegal arms trade, among other things.  Kayla Shaw, a private banker in Arizona, is unwittingly forced to become involved in money laundering on a huge scale when her client’s husband blackmails her into complicity.  The philosophy from which the title derives comes from a statement by Kayla:  “Even sin was innocent once.  The rest is timing and opportunity.”

Rand McCree is a painter who becomes a reluctant participant in events that ended in the murder of his identical twin brother.  That loss has motivated him, five years later, to find and track down the killer, an evil man who is Kayla’s nemesis as well, and their shared hatred for the man and all he represents propels the plot.  Circumstances have them both in the employ of St. Kilda Consulting, a “necessary organization in today’s world of transnational crime, failed and failing states, feral cities, and the just plain savage places in between.  All the places where duly appointed and lawful governments are just short of useless and corrupt governments thrive.”  Another player is John Neto, described as ”a black man speaking Scots Gaelic—who was also a former British intelligence officer—was presently chief of intelligence of a small African country that was besieged by transnational criminals from Russia, Brazil, Europe, and the UAE.  And this man was being interviewed for American TV in a room in British Columbia, Canada, about a murderous Siberian gunrunner presently living the high life of a socialite in Phoenix, Arizona.” 

I had some problems with this book, not the least of which was that I found the protagonists rather two-dimensional.  I also felt the adjective “feral” was much over-used.  As well, the reader is aware of Rand’s anguish at his brother’s death almost from page one, and I didn’t feel it was necessary to be reminded of it on what seemed like every page, e.g., “his twin’s loss was still an open wound on his soul.”  But almost in spite of myself I was pulled into the intricate tale, the timeliness of which makes it one most readers should find enjoyable.

--

Gloria Feit