Witch Hunt [Audio CD]

Others have compared it to "The Day of the Jackal" and I would have to agree. Not one of Rankin's "Edinburgh" series, this was originally written under a pseudonym (Jack Harvey) and is a Special Services thriller. It begins with a bang -- literally -- off the coast of England -- a mysterious woman is coming into the country, and she's not exactly arriving at Heathrow. Through the plodding work of people who read newspapers carefully, and keep records of odd things that happen, a couple of branches of counter-terrorism/counter-espionage units suspect that a well-known paid assassin -- known to be responsible for some political assassinations -- has entered the country. The assassin is known as the Witch -- and she's a beautiful woman who uses sexuality and an ability to change her appearance to her advantage. One of the people involved in the hunt is a recent retiree, who has a serious grudge against the Witch, and knows a lot about how she functions because he's been trying to catch her for so long. Several junior members of these agencies -- both British and French -- are part of the team that follow up on a number of clues that may or may not lead to the Witch. There's a big summit of world leaders in London in a few days, and everyone is anxious to catch the Witch before the conference.

The action moves quickly in this procedural thriller -- you realize how little the anti-terrorist forces have to work with, and how much is a matter of perceptiveness and making the most of the little you have. This is the first of a three part series, and I intend to go on and read the next two.

Ex-Special Branch agent Dominic Elder comes out of retirement to aid with the investigation of a boat explosion when it appears that his long-time nemesis, a chameleon-like assassin dubbed merely Witch, may be responsible. The fishing boat sank in the British Channel during the wee hours of the morning, and the evidence points to murder. Using the boat as transportation from France, Witch left a subtle trail to announce her arrival in England. But she also left a message --- a personal one for Elder. Bluntly, she warned him: Don't bother looking for me. You won't find me. I will find you.

But that is the least of Special Branch's worries, if Elder's intuition proves correct. He has seen her work firsthand and knows her to be a truly frightening enemy, an enemy who always seems one step ahead of the authorities. Who does Witch have in her crosshairs this time?

It is due to the sharp eyes of young Michael Barclay that the investigation is launched at all. His thoroughness, however, lands him in hot water with his boss, who sends him to France in Inspector Doyle's footsteps to meticulously retrace his every move. Finally understanding the need to think outside the box, Barclay uncovers a new lead --- with the help of a resourceful police escort, Dominique. Aside from her invaluable translation (his French is, at best, meager) and guidance around Paris, Michael finds her deliciously attractive. But he manages to conduct a fairly good investigation despite his growing personal interest.

Back in England, Elder badly wants to capture Witch. It almost seems like a personal vendetta. In an effort to cover all bases, he takes Doyle and another inspector under his wing, realizing his own skills have softened during his years away from the game, years off after an abrupt retirement following an operation tersely referred to as Silverfish, nothing more.

With the upcoming summit of world leaders to be held in London, Witch's target seems obvious. Maybe too obvious. Elder and his team follow the leads she feeds to them, but wonder whether they are gaining on her or if it's all a merry chase.

WITCH HUNT is a well-paced thriller with something for everyone: drama, mystery, romance, and humor.

--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers

A female assassin known as the Witch slips into Great Britain aboard a fishing boat, which then explodes, leaving behind no witnesses. A French fishing vessel out of Calais also sinks in the English Channel that day. A young intelligence technician in MI5 notes these two facts and figures out this means the most dangerous assassin in the world has just landed on their soil with the intention of killing someone very important.

Ian Rankin's "Witch Hunt" will remind many of "The Day of the Jackal," even though the best assassin in the world is now female, the detectives chasing her are British as well as French, and the targets are a whole bunch of world leaders who are going to be at a summit in London. Certainly the legendary Witch has a lot more flair than the Jackal, mainly because she uses her looks and feminine wiles to get the job done, but she has the same thought of focused attention to duty and detail that makes her successful. One of the strengths of Rankin's novel are the procedural details in terms of not only how the assassin plans her kills but how her pursuers piece together the information that might help to catch her, hopefully before she kills again.

Interpol has failed to catch the Witch, so now it is up to Scotland Yard and MI5 to try and stop her before she wrecks havoc at the summit. Leading the search is Dominic Elder, who comes out of retirement from Special Branch to finally catch the woman whose autograph he carries around with him as a reminder of his failure, along with a scar (there is reference to a fiasco called "Silverfish" that is never explained and a lost daughter that is somehow involved). There are a lot of agencies involved in the search, all stepping on each others toes and bickering out who will do what, but the other key figures in the chase end up being a couple of relative novices. Michael Barclay is from MI5 and the Dominique Herault is a spy from France's DSG, and you do not even need to ask if they will become as obsessed with each other as they are with getting the Witch.

The problem is getting a break in the case and while Rankin puts together some nice little clues to be uncovered and understood he stacks the deck a bit by having this particular assignment be "personal" for the Witch. This means the professional cold-blooded assassin gets to be a bit emotional about her mission and make what could be a fatal mistake. Of course for most of the book she remains a step ahead of her pursuers and there is a major plot twist that will keep readers on their toes.

This is the first book in the first of several novels the author wrote under the pseudonym Jack Harvey ("Bleeding Hearts" and "Blood Hunt" come next), and as an espionage-thriller represents a departure from Rankin's usual mystery work. It takes a while in "Witch Hunt" for the deck to clear so that the battle of wits between Elder and the Witch can come to a climax, and your ability to enjoy this novel may well have to do with whether you dismiss such things as needless clutter or as part of the avalanche of data from which the true evidence eventually emerges. The situation in "Witch Hunt" might be overly complicated, but if this is an error on Rankin's part at least it was not on the side of being overly simplistic.

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