THIRD DEGREE, By Greg Iles

This is my first time reading this author - and it was very good - very suspenseful. A real page-turner, if I may use that corny cliche! The story is about Dr. Warren Shields and his wife, Laurel. She has just found out she is pregnant. However, since she's been having an affair, she's not sure who the father is. Warren's medical practice is being investigated for medical fraud by the IRS and the FBI - due to his partner's shady practices. That storyline is a whole drama to itself, but it is connected to what's happening in the Sheilds' household, because someone has tipped Warren off that there is something incriminating hidden in his house. So when he tears the place apart trying to find this mysterious evidence, he discovers a love note from Laurel's anonymous lover. Thinking that he's found what he was supposed to, he stops looking and takes his wife and kids hostage at gunpoint. However, that's not what the tip is about, which is where the drama at the office comes in. But Warren won't be convinced that there's more, because now he is insanely obsessed with finding out just who's been his wife's adulterous lover. And the more that is revealed, the more you understand why Warren has fallen to this depth.

It was an intense story - I was glued to the book. Mr. Iles writing gave me a great picture of each character and of each scene.

(WARNING: SPOILER AHEAD!)

But with all that happened, the ending seemed just a little too neat. I won't tell you what happened to Warren - you'll have to read to find out how this day ended. But in the end, the two adulterers live happily ever after - feeling that they had Warren's blessing. What about the kids? What about the trauma they endured? They'd never accept this guy after all they saw that day. Maybe it could happen, but what bugs me is that this feels like it was supposed to be a happy ending. Yuck.

I still think the book was great. I mean, you can't always have the ending you want, even in real life. That's what I love about reading (and watching movies). You can't always predict what's gonna happen. Excellent book anyway!