There are a few reasons why scientist Sabrina Galloway is has chosen to work for EcoEnergy in Tallahassee, Florida, instead of pursuing more lucrative adventures. First of all, EcoEnergy has been lauded for its efforts at developing alternative fuels. They have taken a waste product (chicken guts) which they convert into oil. Secondly, her father, formerly a scientist, is a mental patient at a nearby institution and she is now able to visit him frequently.But those dream jobs do have a way of turning sour, don't they? It all begins when Sabrina's boss, Dwight Lansik, disappears. Sabrina is extremely suspicious about this turn of events. As she checks things out, she uncovers some very unnerving situations occurring at the EcoEnergy plant and finds herself in danger as a result. There's an environmental disaster of the highest magnitude about to occur, and already toxic waste is flowing into Florida's waterways. She flees to her estranged brother, Eric, in Pensacola, who has his own secrets. Ultimately, working with a group of people that Eric has befriended, they unveil corporate corruption and a huge environmental scandal. Separately, a senator's aide in Washington, DC, is finding a government conspiracy around the EcoEnergy contract that points to the highest people in power. Kava builds the layers of suspense one upon another. Sabrina and Eric's group of cohorts infiltrate the EcoEnergy plant to obtain the evidence they need to uncover the facts around the environmental damage being wrought by the company, with someone profiting to the tune of millions of dollars. There's an especially exciting scene involving Sabrina, a hit man and one of the company's other scientists. At the same time, Jason Brill, the senator's aide, is finding there is more than meets the eye to the senator's business and relationships. It all culminates in a wham-bam finale that almost literally explodes off the page.The characters are fairly stock with the exception of Sabrina's neighbor, Miss Sadie, an 81-year-old black woman who steals the scene every time she appears on the page. For example, the hit man is watching Miss Sadie's home and planning to do whatever he must to extract information about Sabrina from her. As he sneaks into her back yard preparing to enter her home, Miss Sadie calmly calls to him from her rocker: "What took you so long?" Suffice it to say that Miss Sadie defies all stereotypes about little old ladies and manages to negotiate a quite unexpected outcome with the hit man. The hit man is also a character that has some unusual characteristics.Whitewash was a solid book, nothing flashy, that I found hard to put down. I am very tired of thrillers that focus on some loathsome serial killer. It was really refreshing not to have that element in this book and that made it all the more enjoyable for me. Unlike Kava's series books, Whitewash features ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. She succeeds admirably in creating a unique and fast-paced thriller.
I enjoyed it. Here's the description. Bestseller Kava takes a break from her Maggie O'Dell FBI profiler series (A Necessary Evil, etc.) with a fine topical thriller involving terrorism, government coverups and toxic waste. Sabrina Galloway, a young Chicago professor, becomes a hands-on scientist in Florida with EcoEnergy, a company that specializes in TCP—a process that converts refuse and other waste material into oil. EcoEnergy's CEO is angling for a $140 million military government contract, but after Sabrina's boss mysteriously disappears and Sabrina discovers a reactor processing something it shouldn't, her life becomes as endangered as Florida's waterways. She hits the road in a '47 Studebaker with Miss Sadie, a gutsy 81-year-old African-American neighbor, to find help, while Middle Eastern terrorists plot a nasty surprise for an upcoming energy summit. Engaging supporting characters include Leon, a funky hit man losing his touch but not his heart, and covert operative Natalie Richards, "a black Emma Peel." Kava lightens the seriousness with some deft touches of humor. Genre fans weary of serial-killer fare will find this a refreshing read.
What do You think about Whitewash (2007)?
This is a not-Maggie O'Dell mystery thriller from Ms. Kava, and the book has a 2007 copyright notice, so it likely was written nearly eight or nine years ago. There is political intrigue; there is environmental intrigue, and there are family problems. I thought the book started slowly and only gained momentum in the final quarter. Greedy folks trying to scam the public and the government, so the female scientist heroine who doesn't have a very compelling personality has to figure a lot of it out with the help of her mysterious brother and his sketchy friends. The Washington intrigue/ambition companion story line was ... eh. Not a terrible book, but skippable.
—Nancy
