Takeover

When high-level executive Mark Ludlow is discovered beaten to death in front of his house early one morning, forensic scientist Theresa MacLean and her fiancé, homicide detective Paul Cleary, investigate in Black's underwhelming debut, a thriller set in Cleveland. Paul immediately heads downtown to interview Ludlow's co-workers at the Federal Reserve Bank and walks right into a botched robbery attempt and hostage situation. Lucas Parrish and Bobby Moyers want $4 million, but top hostage negotiator Chris Cavanaugh isn't ready to give in to their demands. When Paul is shot in the leg and becomes a hostage, Theresa breaks protocol and convinces Lucas to let Paul go and take her instead. It's up to Theresa on the inside and Chris on the outside to uncover the motive behind the robbery and Ludlow's murder before anyone else gets hurt. Theresa, despite her professional training, devotes little time to scientific deduction. Readers can expect to find richer plots on most TV crime dramas. (Sept.)