Lethal Factor

Jack McCain #2

by Gabrielle Lord, Unknown Author

With a horrifying anthrax murder and the brutal, ritualistic killing of a nun, forensic examiner Jack McCain takes on two baffling new cases.

Does the anthrax killing signify a frightening new wave of terrorism? And what is the meaning of the cryptic symbol gouged into a murdered nun’s flesh? With his daughter in danger and his ex-wife causing him serious trouble, Jack tries to make sense of these questions, and fights to discover the identity of the anthrax assassin.

The second in the Dr Jack McCain series, Lethal Factor finds Jack McCain trying to make sense of a horrifying anthrax murder and the brutal, ritualistic killing of a nun.

With his estranged daughter in danger and his ex-wife accusing him of sexual abuse, lethal factor, anthrax’s deadly protein, becomes a threat to his own life in a way he could never have imagined. Another action-packed thriller wherein Jack McCain almost loses his daughter and the woman he loves...

Genres: Australia, Crime

MP3 CD

First published August 1, 2010

About the author

Gabrielle Craig Lord is an Australian writer who has been described as Australia's first lady of crime.

She survived being ‘razed’ by the nuns, acquired an education despite this, and after working in many different areas, sales, teaching, brick-cleaning, peach-picking and packing, and in the Public Service as an employment officer, started writing seriously aged 30.

Her first two manuscripts ended up composting the tomatoes at her market garden – another attempt to make a living – but the third one FORTRESS was picked up internationally and made into a feature film starring Rachel Ward. A later novel WHIPPING BOY was made into a telemovie starring Sigrid Thornton. The film rights money, coinciding with her daughter leaving school, allowed Gabrielle to resign and instead of getting up at 4.30am and writing for several hours before heading off for work, she could write full-time and lead a more ‘normal’ writer’s life – hanging around with scientists and detectives, badgering forensic anthropologists (she studied some Anatomy at Sydney university) and doing work experience with a busy private security business and of course, writing.

Research is everything, she says. ‘Out of my contacts with experts (who are always far too modest to describe themselves that way) I get not only the fine-tuning necessary for today’s savvy readers, but also wonderful incidents and images that enrich and enlarge my books.’

Gabrielle’s interests are very simple. ‘After a misspent youth, I don’t have many brain cells left so I enjoy walking, meditation, singing, gardening, chatting with close friends, being with my family and grandkids, feeding my goldfish and keeping up to date with bodywork and enlightened psychotherapy.’

Gabrielle has now written fourteen adult novels and a novel for young adults. Once the 12 books of Conspiracy 365 are completed, this tally will be a tad bigger! Following this mammoth endeavour she already has plans for another three adult novels and two more YAs.
2013

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lethal Factor contains a decent thriller in its mid section but it stumbles because of mixed writing and a terrible ending.

The biggest strength of the book is how many different things are happening to the main character at once: multiple murder investigations, potential kidnapping, accusations, love interests, and managing a team of scientists. Readers get snippets of each element and most are interesting, particularly strongest in the middle of the book. Dialogue is generally a highlight, mainly when it happens over the phone. Writing is a little more problematic; there are many sentences that needed a comma or two.

There is a lot of inconsequential fluff between the interesting developments. Like these three consecutive paragraphs on page 201:

“...I had a meal sent to my room, rang my brother, heard Jacinta was at the Bondi flat, rang there, and had a short chat with her.
“Then I rang my son in the UK but he wasn’t in and a youngster from the college took a message for me. ‘Tell him his Dad rang,’ I said. ‘I’ll try again soon.’
“I found the number for Toby Speed that Bob had given me and called him. My call went straight through to voice mail and I left a message and my number.”

This is an extreme example, but one that’s not unique. Three paragraphs where “stuff” happened but also nothing happened.

Any good work the book does is wiped away by the abysmal ending. If they could capture energy from rolling eyeballs, I would have powered a small country when reading the last 25 pages (I’m putting this in spoilers, although I do not say the name of the killer and hide some clues).

1. They wait until a gala dinner, where the killer is a speaker, to arrest them. This person has weaponized anthrax and could kill anybody at anytime and they don’t pounce?
2. They do the above so the main character can give his Agatha Christie spiel to a wide audience, which is so contrived.
3. The MC discovers who the killer is pages before and doesn’t internally voice their name until the big moment.
4. There is a huge inconsistency in the last few pages:
“That’s why you put me in the *location*”
“Killer never imagined I’d spend time in *location*”

Which is it? Both are ridiculous. The killer knows the MC is going to the *location* and even encourages him (hinting at the first) yet leaves all the required evidence to convict inside? This killer is smart enough to plant false evidence and think months ahead, so this gaff is too absurd. Also, while we’re talking about evidence, many resolutions felt too coincidental.

The icing on the cake is the last action scene where a murderer from the other case turns up to fight the MC, after escaping police custody (of course), and he ends up dying in the most ridiculous fashion. Yes it’s good to wrap things up, but not like this.


If the last 30 pages were rewritten, this book may have deserved a soft 3 stars, but the finale is just too bad to brush aside.

[Moz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read most of this author's books but I don't think this is one of her best. Not that it was bad, it was just a bit over-done.

Jack McCain tries to do too much. He's supposed to be an ex-cop turned scientist and I'm sure that would keep him pretty busy but no, he has to keep being a cop too and solving crimes the existing members of the force can't. Not one, but two. Added to that he's fending off vicious accusations by an angry ex-wife, finding a new love interest in an old friend, dealing with a daughter and someone who wants to harm her. I'm surprised he has time to sleep! I was exhausted just reading it.

[Nona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gabrielle LORD has written a good book. It has several intricate stories all rolled into one, and it is evident from the dialogue she has researched the area of anthrax and its complexities.
The story rolled along at a good pace and it was only in the 'telling' of how Jack McCain solved the mystery that it dragged on somewhat.
I listened to this novel which was read by Francis GREENSLADE. At times I found listening to his voice a bit tedious. I am Australian and found his accent far too nasally!!
Recommended.

[Majella]

I enjoyed this novel. The characters were realistic with human faults and flaws along with their good traits. The were a few different storylines woven into the plot to keep it interesting, but not so many that it was difficult to keep track of the respective characters or what was happening at any given moment. For those who like a fairly definitive ending to a story, this one ties things up fairly neatly.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dr Jack McCain, forensic science examiner and ex-cop is investigating an anthrax murder and the ritualistic killing of a nun. His daughter is in danger of being kidnapped by a disgruntled ex-cop turned criminal. He tries to identify the anthrax killer, to make sense of the killing of the nun, and how to protect his daughter. As an x-cop, Jack gets too involved in trying to solve the crime rather than just examining the evidence. Quite a good read.

[Blair · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even the great voice-over from Francis Greenslade can't save this one for me, I'm afraid. I'm half-way through listening but abandoning ship. I read one of this author's works some time ago, and, as I recall, quite enjoyed it. This, however, plods along with a ton of exposition and not enough action.

[Joy Norman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the detailed knowledge of forensic procedures used. I can visualise what it may be like if there was an anthrax scare here and what the outcome could be. I stayed up all night so I could finish reading this!

[Gavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book, but not a great book. Entertaining and well written, but overly complex in parts and full of unnecessary descriptions about scientific matters (that I just glossed over after a while).

[Wonderkell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad intro for me to this series. It was nice to read a forensics book set in Australia. However, it did drag in parts for me, hence the lower score. I will definitely give other books in this series a go though.

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good quick murder mystery set in between Sydney and Canberra. Chemical warfare/terrorism always makes a good subject matter...and the stupidity of overly ambitious people is highlighted.