Female agent takes readers on wild ride in Schofield thriller
Killing Pace is an entertaining cat-andmouse thriller that highlights a refreshingly strong, cunning — and lethal — female protagonist.
Former Vancouverite (and current Nova Scotia resident) Douglas Schofield tells the tale of special agent Laura Pace — and her two other identities, Lisa Green and Sarah Lockhart — in this 259-page book.
Opening with an intriguing scene where a woman is found bloodied and disoriented on a backcountry gravel road, the thriller unfolds with unexpected twists and turns that keep the reader rapidly turning the pages to discover what happens next.
While it took a few chapters to get into the pace of the same-but-different characters (admittedly causing a few ‘huh?’ moments that necessitated thumbing back through previous pages to pick up the story’s trail), the multi-faceted central character is both engaging and entertaining.
The book takes readers from rural Florida to the cities of Sicily and then back Stateside with stops in Miami, New Jersey and more. It’s a whirlwind world tour that’s nearly as dizzying as the detailed accounts of counterfeit auto parts, refugees and baby laundering. Yes, baby laundering.
While a few of the breathless getaways seem a tad far-fetched, the story is so well-paced and well-written that the sometimes miraculous moments are easy to overlook.
Building on current events such as refugee migration and the all-encompassing umbrella of Homeland Security, in addition to offering glimpses into rival factions of the Mafia, this book provides a blend of action, drama, corruption, collusion — and even a touch of romance, too.
The Killing Pace is the kind of book a reader could easily see translated to the screen — with a badass actress at the epicentre, of course. A Jason Bourne-type action movie with a take-no-prisoners woman in the lead role? Now, there’s an action flick we’d like to see.