FICTION

Celine

Knopf. Mar. 2017. 352p. ISBN 9780451493897. $25.95; ebk. ISBN 9780451493903. F
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OrangeReviewStarCeline is a paradox, a Sarah Lawrence blue blood who is also a licensed PI, living near the Brooklyn Bridge. She and her partner/husband, Pete, specialize in finding missing persons, with a success rate higher than that of the FBI. The main plot centers on a daughter's quest for her father, who "disappeared" at Yellowstone many years back, supposedly mauled by a grizzly, while a parallel plot has Celine's son seeking the identity of a child Celine birthed in her teens. Hired by the desperate daughter, Celine learns that local trackers and lawmen doubt the bear story, and as she and Pete approach the park, they realize they're being shadowed by an FBI sniper. Clearly, this is meant to remain a closed case. The missing father was a charismatic, world-famous National Geographic photographer who had been in Chile during the overthrow of President Salvador Allende; eventually we learn that he had pictures that compromised the current government. Near the conclusion, the G-man tries to take them out, but the 68-year-old asthmatic Celine is also a quick draw and a crack shot, although to say more would be a spoiler.
VERDICT Heller (The Painter) blends suspense with beautiful descriptive writing of both nature and civilization to create a winner. [See Prepub Alert, 9/19/16.]
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