Kim Aldrich: Silent Partner

    Kim is taking a vacation at a ski resort in the Austrian Alps. She has become friendly with the young man in the room next to hers. He is Jim and with him he has a 12 year old boy named Roby who clearly adores him. Kim is intrigued by these two as Jim is too young to be Roby's father. Both of them have an interesting quirk of staring at her attentively when she speaks.

    While they are all out on the slopes one day Kim is taking some home videos when she ends up capturing an intentional, and fatal, ski accident. That night she finds someone has been in her room and stolen the film out of her camera. Unfortunately for them Kim had changed film and the evidence of the crime is still in her possession.

    Kim questions Jim about his relationship to Roby and he tells her a sad story; Roby's father is Jean Paul, a famous skier who owns the resort they are currently staying at. Roby's mother passed away in a car accident while pregnant which caused Roby to be born post-mortem via a c-section. The situation led the hospital staff to believe Roby was mentally disabled and his father rejected him, having him sent to an institution for the mentally disabled. 

    When Roby was 8 Jim came to work for the institution and correctly suspected that Roby wasn't mentally disabled but deaf. After teaching him sign language Roby began to flourish and was transferred to a school for physically disabled children, with Jim getting a job there to continue taking care of the boy. Jim had brought Roby to the Alps for two main reasons; to show Roby that, with his lip reading ability, he can live a normal life without people stigmatizing him as disabled, and with the hope that they will run into his father and he will either accept the child or allow Jim to adopt him.

    One night after putting Roby to bed Kim and Jim see two men in the resort lounge secretly using international sign language. After they return to their rooms they find Roby missing. Mixed up in some nefarious goings-on the two are unsure how to proceed, do they call the police and risk Roby's safety? And what about the film that shows the crime, what good can it do if they are unable to get it developed. While discussing their next move Jim tells Kim that he'll need her to be his ears which makes Kim realize Jim is also deaf.

    After seeing sign language being used again in the lounge, the two learn of a secret meeting being held in the garret of the resort. Kim and Jim climb up to the garret balcony and witness the secret meeting. The men inside use sign language so as to not be overheard and Jim translates it to Kim; the men are drug smugglers, the man killed on the slopes was an Interpol agent, and Roby was kidnapped and placed in an isolated cabin up on the mountain cause the gang believed he found out too much.

    Kim and Jim decided to head up the mountain to rescue Roby but as they are sneaking supplies from the ski room one of the gang members shows up. It is the man who Kim captured on film causing the fatal accident. He tells them that he is looking to run out on the gang and will take them to Roby if they can secure half a million dollars in jewels from Roby's father. Having no other option they agree. Kim and Jim go to Jean Paul's home where they secure the jewels from his wife but are falsely accused of being the ones behind Roby's kidnapping.

    They make the dangerous trip up the mountain which includes skiing sideways across a headwall that has a worrying amount of snow overhead. Once at the cabin they find Roby and spend the night there waiting for him to warm up enough to be able to safely make their decent.    

    The next morning they get back to the headwall when the criminal tells them that this is where they part ways. He instructs them to head back across the headwall and that he will climb up the mountain and descend on the other side. However once he is farther up the mountain Kim sees him with a gun. He is going to wait until they are crossing the headwall then shoot the gun to cause an avalanche, killing the three. When they don't begin to cross the headwall he points the gun at them, leaving them no option but to try and outrun the avalanche.

    Jim is the only one who outruns it. Kim and Roby are buried alive but dug out by Jim. Soon they are rescued by patrol men checking the area. Once safe the three head to the police station to report everything but there they are instantly arrested for murder, kidnapping, and drug smuggling. The head of the gang is also their impersonating the Interpol agent that was murdered.

    They are all taken to Jean Paul's house where Kim outwits the gang leader, Roby tells his story, and Jean Paul accepts Roby as his son.

- Religion is weirdly shoved into this text, it doesn't feel natural at all. The only natural inclusion was when Jean Paul and his wife give Kim and Jim a sleigh ride home and stop at a sermon which has a special meaning since it was the first one since the murder which hung heavy over everyone at the resort.

    However Kim and Roby "making peace" with God while trapped in the avalanche, Kim getting offended anytime Jim uses an expression with "god" in it, Kim saying her wedding would be "in a church, of course", and Jean Paul insisting Roby be raised Catholic even though he refuses to accept him as his child and tells everyone he has no children were all awkwardly forced into the text. The last book didn't do this so I'm not sure why this one was so focused on Kim being a believer.

- I'm not sure the author was really aware of what sign language looks like because in the scenes where the men are secretly using sign language in the lounge it is described more like morse code. A man is tapping his fingers on a book he is reading and another man replies by tapping his fingers on the fireplace mantel. If you've seen sign language you know that's just not accurate.

- After they arrive at the cabin to rescue Roby they eat and have some wine with the wine causing Kim to fall asleep. I thought this must mean Kim is at least 21 but then I looked at the year this book was published. It was during the time the majority of the U.S. had lowered the drinking age to 18. Alas, we still don't know Kim's age. Also, they give Roby some wine to help warm him up and it puts him to sleep. Definitely something you wouldn't find in a kid's book today.

- I did not think Roby going to his father at the end was a good choice. If that was suppose to be a happy ending then why did the author make Jean Paul so irredeemably unlikeable throughout the book. Jim has raised Roby to be a good, kind boy and Jean Paul is a terrible person who is probably going to undo all of that. Jean Paul also calls Roby "defective" so I doubt he will be patient when it comes to Roby's deafness. The real happy ending would be Jim adopting him.

    Overall this was another good book in the Kim Aldrich series.

Kim Alrdich: Miscalculated Risk

    Kim Aldrich, the daughter of an FBI agent, is working as a secretary for WALCO insurance agency. One day commissioner Saunders of Neadham shows up to talk to the company about a lawsuit his town is undergoing.

    It seems that down on the beach there is a large area of rocks where children like to play. The rocks are suppose to be sprayed weekly with a chemical to keep algae from growing and causing the rocks to be slippery and dangerous. But the rocks have not been sprayed for some time which resulted in a small boy named Peter Madden falling and getting seriously injured. The boy is in a wheelchair now and his parents are suing the town for $500,000. Since the towns insurance policy is only for $100,000 the commissioner desperately needs to win this case. However he refuses to try and reach a settlement with the Maddens. He insists doing so would cause others to falsely sue the town.

    Kim, interested in the case, visits the beach location where she ends up meeting a handsome young man. His name is Andy Hill and he is the Madden's lawyer. Instantly drawn to each other the two start working on the case together to discover who is at fault for the accident.

    All signs point to the town being liable as the rocks had not been sprayed. The chief life guard, Bill Jones, reportedly wrote in his work log that he had repeatedly requested for them to be sprayed but that his requests were denied and the money allotted for it went missing. This evidence would seal the case for Andy but unfortunately Bill, and his logs, are missing.

    Strange things soon begin to happen such as Andy constantly being followed by a dark Sudan and Kim suddenly being offered a fabulously paying secretary job in Puerto Rico. After a visit to the Maddens Kim learns that Bill has been writing to Peter. She asks to see a letter so she can get his address to track him down. It is a general delivery address in Santa Elena, California and the letter reveals that Bill was suddenly offered a year long fellowship from the Dier Foundation, an alleged foundation for artists. But an investigation soon proves the foundation doesn't exist.

    Andy sends a letter to Bill in the hopes Bill can make it back to New York to testify in court but when the case is suspiciously moved way up on the docket and no word has come from Bill, Kim and Andy fly to California over the weekend to bring him back themselves.

    Once on the west coast they are briefly delayed when someone crashes into their rented car but they continue their journey to Santa Elena where they learn from a local that Bill is staying at the "Saunders shack". Commissioner Saunders shack.

    They find the shack empty but while looking around Kim opens the wardrobe door and the body of Bill Jones falls out. Andy finds a typed paper in the trash where Bill had written what he knew regarding the lawsuit and Saunders guilt. Pocketing the paper the two rush to the car where Andy says they have to call in the murder as an anonymous tip otherwise they will be held for the inquiry and miss the court date in New York. However as they begin to leave they hear a car driving up, it's a sheriff's car which indicates someone else had tipped off the police in an attempt to frame Andy and Kim.

    They are able to drive away undetected and get to a payphone where Andy phones his boss to tell him he will have to take over the Madden case. Andy is then informed the Maddens have suddenly insisted on dropping the case. Knowing the family wouldn't drop the was case willingly the two need to return to New York right away so they head to the airport, anxious they will be arrested at any moment.

    They successfully make it back to the East Coast and, realizing they are being followed through the airport, Andy instructs Kim to go into the ladies room and phone her father. Unfortunately he is away on a case until the next morning. Kim tells her housekeeper that she is coming straight home. Leaving the ladies room she finds Andy gone. She decides to get her car from the parking lot and go straight home but is drugged and kidnapped outside her car.

    Kim awakes in a small rustic shack. There is an older woman there who Kim soon learns is Mrs. Casey, the wife of the judge handling the case. She informs Kim that Peter Madden and Andy are also there. They have all been kidnapped to stop the case from proceeding. Kim soon learns they are being held on an island. Her and Andy manage to find some scuba suits in a shed and decide to swim for shore in the icy water. 

    Beginning to grow tired and struggling to keep an eye on each other in the pitch black they begin to feel hopeless when they hear the sound of a boat approaching. They dive under water but without airtanks they soon are forced to surface and are pulled into the boat where Dan Aldrich, Kim's father, greets them.

    After Kim's call home the housekeeper had called the FBI and a kidnapping case was immediately opened for her. Two teenagers had reported seeing some suspicious men loading a boat on the shore hours before which lead the FBI there to search.

    After everyone is rescued they are all put under guard and escorted to court the next morning. Kim is called to testify, her appearance shocking Saunders. When she mentions the murder of Bill Jones Saunders yells out that he did not order a hit on the man, just instructed to have him silenced. Soon the commissioner is telling his story; he had been stealing funds to use to campaign for mayor, this is what had become of the money that was suppose to be used to have the rocks sprayed. Saunders believed if he beat the Maddens in court it would help his public image and get the voters on his side. He had hired people in the "syndicate", aka organized crime, to keep Andy, Kim, Bill, etc. away. With all this out before the judge the commissioner is arrested and a settlement of $10,000 is agreed upon by the Maddens and WALCO.

    With all that settled Kim and Andy decide to take some time to figure out if their world wind romance was due to genuine feelings or from being thrust into a dangerous situation together.

- Kim and Andy instantly feel bonded over their upbringings; Kim grew up in Puerto Rico due to her father being stationed there for FBI work and Andy was born and raised in Hawaii. It doesn't say if Andy is pacific islander but I pictured him as so.

- I think Kim is a good feminist example. I know some people disagree but I think they are confused on what feminism is. Kim is able to take care of herself but she is also able to accept help from Andy if and when she needs it. After their car is crashed into in California Kim starts to change the flat tire when Andy takes over and tells her to rest. Kim was just unconscious and needed to rest. She thinks how she likes feeling protected by Andy but how if it was her brother, for example, she would be offended and furious.

    Kim and Andy have a romantic relationship and therefor Andy can do and say things to Kim that would be offensive if another man did it. Andy respects Kim and knows she is capable of taking care of herself. But he also cares and loves her which makes him worry about her wellbeing and want to protect her. It is because Kim knows he respects and loves her that she does not find these things offensive.

Kim is also very well balanced. She likes to look pretty and often acts silly but also is skilled in Taekwondo, sky diving, scuba diving, and is a sports car enthusiast.

- I did not like how Kim and Andy suddenly realize their romance was superficial. I liked them together and would have liked them to be a couple throughout the series, even though I knew from experience that wouldn't happen. If I am being honest I must admit I think the ending did make the most sense as they really didn't know each other before falling for each other.

- When Kim phones her housekeeper at the airport she gives a description of what she is wearing since it would be useful information if she went missing and a search was made for her. I thought this was really smart. 

    Overall I enjoyed this book. I read it in one sitting which is something I have not been able to do in awhile. Lately it seems every book bores me so this was a nice change.