Conspiracy. Vengeance. Disaster.
Kat Beckman is finally coming to terms with her life when her family unexpectedly moves to California, a place she’s never wanted to live.
As she adjusts to living in strange city, she notices that a new friend, the normally composed Theresa Walsh, seems rattled. A tense conversation reveals that Theresa is suspicious there’s a conspiracy involving Palm Coast … conspiracy involving Palm Coast Electric & Power, the company Theresa’s husband runs as the CEO. She doesn’t know what it is, but Theresa is terrified and needs Kat’s help.
The next day, Theresa goes missing, leaving her sick son in the hospital alone. Kat doesn’t know if her friend is alive or dead.
All around the San Jose area, mysterious wildfires are popping up, destroying homes and killing people in the very area that Palm Coast Electric & Power services. Is there a connection between Theresa’s disappearance and the conspiracy she was so afraid of?
As Kat gets closer to the truth, she discovers a massive plot that threatens not only the community, but her own family. Will she be in time to save the people she loves before it’s too late?
“The Blackout” is the fourth book in the Kat Beckman amateur sleuth thriller series. If you like Tom Clancy, James Patterson and Lee Child, then you’ll love this fast-paced, action-packed technothriller series.
Buy “The Blackout” and join the journey with Kat Beckman now!
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Definitely a fast-moving, page-turner.
This is book four of the Kat Beckman series and sees Kat, Van and Jack now eighteen months into what was for her a fairly reluctant move to California. Her husband Van Peck was offered a bigger and better position when their online news sheet was bought out, and this move brought him closer to his new office. Jack was a bit sad to move, losing out on friends already made, but has settled down and made it onto some of the sports teams and made new friends. Kat hasn’t done much of any journalism or other work since they moved, as Van’s new salary has been more than sufficient. She is now doing all the mom stuff, taking Jack to and from all his after school activities. It is when she takes him to a baseball game and sets herself up by the other mums under a tree that one of them asks to speak to her privately. It is a woman called Theresa Walsh, who she is getting to know and could call an almost friend, and she wants to ask Kat to help with her worries about her husband. Her husband Bart has been staying out even later at work, won’t talk to her at all and has seemed very worried. When she tries to talk to him, he just takes himself off to the golf club, to stay the night.
Theresa’s husband is the CEO of Palm Coast Electric & Power and they have been running rolling blackouts over areas they provide to, supposedly to try and stop any chances of a wildfire by a spark from any transmitters or similar. It seems the California Public Utilities Association forced them to do that because of aging equipment. This time of year, due to the high Santa Ana winds that are normal in California, and the high temperatures for the last few months, everything is completely bone dry and there is tinder everywhere and just about anything could set off a wildfire. If a fire struck, then it would spread like wildfire and there have already been other fires recently, that led to a large number of dead and missing people and others badly burned and more made homeless as well. Theresa is worried there may be some sort of conspiracy involving Palm Coast Electric & Power and her husband, with something he may have done in the past and has been covering up, but he won’t talk to her. This time Theresa had managed to get a shot of something he had on his tablet, showing areas with power and some without, but also some blue dots, which shouldn’t have been there.
These strange blue dots actually match the locations of a couple of wildfires, although one doesn’t match to anything as yet. Kat discusses it with Van, after Theresa called her and passed these images to them, and her gut tells her that something is seriously wrong and it will no doubt lead her into another dangerous situation! When Theresa goes missing and Bart is incommunicado, Kat starts to worry about her friend and what has happened to her. It is obvious that there must be something linked to Bart’s past and someone or something that is coming after him because of it. Kat feels the beginning of some sort of conspiracy starting to become clear as she continues to investigate the fires and strange circumstances behind them, with the assistance of the chief fire investigator Freddie. He calls in the FBI when some deaths occur and they see some danger to the power grid itself, which concerns the federal government. Kat, Van, Jack and even Woof and Tyrant are placed in danger when their home comes under the new blackout waves and wildfires start to head up their valley. The culprit needs to be stopped before more lives are lost and Kat will need to get her investigative skills back in training to be at her best in this one. Another great investigative thriller of a read, with more insight into Kat’s home life, which was nice. Can’t wait to read another one in this series. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
The wife of the CEO of Palm Coast Electric & Power has asked Kat to look into things. Something isn’t right. There are things on the monitor that shouldn’t be there and some of them have wildfires in them, some don’t. Is there some kind of espionage going on with the utility company? If so, what is it and who is behind it? Also why? I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book from Booksprout.
I have not read the previous books on this series but I had no problems in understanding the story. The plot is well built and keeps the reader plugged from the beginning till the end. It´s a pity that in real life as well as in fiction people do not get treated for their mental problems and decide to take action, in the case of the story, wrong action, in their own hands, hurting quite a lot of lives. There´s a lot of loss and hurt, but thanks to friends and support from the community the main characters get to have a positive ending for their problems.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I just love this series! I cannot wait to read the next installment to see what adventures Kat and her family get into next. I’m sure it will be another page-turner. Well done!