In this 21st installment of Catherine Coulter's FBI Thriller series, married agents Dillon Savich and Lacy Sherlock are embroiled in two seemingly unrelated mysteries. Savich saves a young woman named Kara Moody, whose home is broken into by a man who appears to be out of his mind. Savich shoots him, the bullet grazing his head, but doesn't kill him. He is rendered unconscious and slips into a coma, which is not the result of the bullet; it takes a lot of sleuthing to figure out the cause. The man is found without any identification, so he is simply referred to as “John Doe.”

"ENIGMA is a good story with a compelling premise and interesting characters. It's well worth reading, especially if you're a fan of this prolific author."

Meanwhile, agents Cam Wittier and Jack Cabot are on the trail of an escaped criminal who is somewhere in the Daniel Boone National Forest. Tracking him requires heavy-duty hiking and camping. In the course of hunting down this escapee, a connection is made between him and John Doe. And it's a very strange connection indeed.

As per her usual style, Coulter manages to write a lively story that keeps you turning pages. She also incorporates something extra into the text; this time it relates to genetic engineering. What happens when a rich person, who is also a scientist, seeks an answer to a pressing medical question? To what lengths will that individual go to find it? The answer could be a chilling one.

Also, as per her usual style, Coulter has a habit of overusing certain words and phrases. As I've mentioned in other reviews of her books, she has a penchant for using the word "creds" as an abbreviation for "credentials" when referring to an FBI agent showing their "creds" to someone else. In this book, she used it 14 times, and not once did she spell the word out, using it as many as three times in the same chapter. She also overused the phrases "hunkered down" and "raised eyebrows," as if there were no better ways to express those actions.

All in all, though, ENIGMA is a good story with a compelling premise and interesting characters. It's well worth reading, especially if you're a fan of this prolific author.