Fatal Threat: Fatal, Book 11

Force’s 11th Fatal romantic thriller (after Fatal Identity) continues her trend of writing likable, relatable characters who are entirely capable of handling the inevitably dire situations that occur in their high-risk jobs. When U.S. Vice President Nick Cappuano’s D.C. office receives a credible threat aimed specifically at the youngsters in the blended Cappuano-Holland clan, he is immediately dispatched home from a state visit to Iran, and the Secret Service rounds up the entire extended family for safekeeping in a nearby bunker. This is particularly annoying for Nick’s wife, Samantha Holland, a Metropolitan PD homicide lieutenant. She’s in the middle of investigating the murder of a Jane Doe and doesn’t take well to being quarantined. Soon she finagles release so she can help locate whoever is behind the threat. The story occasionally meanders into updates on secondary characters’ lives, allowing plot tension to flag, but it picks up again in the final chapters. (Aug.)