Final Approach

By Rachel Brady

"An intriguing crime drama..."—MBR Bookwatch

Four years ago Emily Locke's life was shattered when her infant daughter and husband were lost in an inexplicable accident. She has nearly rebuilt her fragile mental health when Richard Cole, a disgraced former police detective now working as a PI, resurfaces. He says he needs help only she can provide—reconnaissance at a Texas skydiving establishment over a thousand miles away. Emily knows better than to work with him again, but she can't refuse when she learns it's a missing child case.

At Gulf Coast Skydiving, similarities between this new case and Emily's troubled past make it increasingly difficult for her to stay objective. Soon she's convinced that she is somehow connected to whoever took little Casey Lyons. Someone at the quiet, rural airstrip knows what happened to the boy and to Emily's own daughter.

To find Casey before it's too late, Emily will have to make sense of the menacing parallels between this case and her daughter's....

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sourcebooks
• Release date: Sep 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781615950140

Reviews for Final Approach

[marlyn_11 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Emily Locke's husband and daughter were killed in a boating accident four years before we meet her. Richard Cole, the detective who'd worked the case, now a private investigator, says she's the only person he knows who can help him with his current case which may involve sky-diving. She's reluctant to help him, as she's sure he botched her case and she's not an experienced investigator, but when she hears it concerns a missing child, she agrees.She takes leave from her job in northern Ohio, and flies to Houston, where she is to infiltrate a local sky-diving club. She hasn't done any jumps since she lost her family, and although it's tough to begin again, she soon realizes how much she'd missed it.Hearing that there will be a "boogie" (skydiving festival) that weekend, she signs up. Forgoing the early morning jump, she lends her gear to another woman, who is forced to use the cutaway chute when she discovers that someone has tampered with the main parachute.Emily's history is revealed to the reader slowly throughout the course of the book, and we learn the truth about her husband and daughter and why she feels so compelled to help with the missing child case.Sky-diving ignoramuses (such as I) will learn a lot from this book, while being totally immersed in a gripping and exciting story.

[csayban · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.0 starsRECOMMENDED!When Emily Locke is called by Richard Cole, the detective turned PI who investigated the death of her husband and daughter four years earlier, she is in no hurry to help him. When she finds out she gets to fly to Houston and engage in her passion for sky-diving while helping to check a lead in a child abduction case, Emily decides that this is a good excuse for a vacation. What Emily quickly discovers is that the lead is very real , but she is unsure of who she can actually trust. The stakes increase as Emily finds out that along with a missing child there is also the possibility of learning the truth about her own family’s tragic end. But the search for the truth could cost her life…and potentially even more.Rachel Brady’s debut mystery novel Final Approach brings us into the life of chemist Emily Locke, who is unwittingly dropped into the pursuit of a baby abduction ring that might have ties to her past. Written from the first-person perspective of Emily, the story delves into the world of skydiving where we learn all about “boogies” and “cutaway chutes.” Fortunately, it isn’t just a skydiving education that Final Approach provides. It is also a very well written mystery. Brady provides Emily an authentic voice that is both human and endearing. Emily doesn’t have all of the answers – in fact she doesn’t even know a lot of the questions – but she learns and makes mistakes in a way that readers can relate to. She is no superhero, but that doesn’t prevent her from making a heroic stand. Brady does a fantastic job introducing the other characters and keeping the reader guessing as to whether they are someone Emily can confide in or someone she needs to run away from. Brady doesn’t spend very much time painting picturesque scenes. Final Approach is very much a character and plot driven chase. At 250 pages, the story moves quickly and leads into a succession of twists and turns that work so well. Brady keeps you hanging on for the ride right up to the last page. A very satisfying story from a promising, gifted writer. I can’t wait to read her next story. Mystery fans should check this one out.

[pharrm_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Emily Locke mystery; Emily is called from her employer to seek out a missing child in Houston. She is a skilled skydiver and it is thought the perpertrator belongs to a local sky diving club. She endears herself to the group and quickly finds a lead to the bad guys.