High flyer Alexa Sommer works hard in a controversial job where backstabbing and sneaky tactics are the norm, but the fallout from her divorce has ramifications she couldn’t have foreseen. When her daughter accuses Alexa’s estranged husband of child abuse, it seems their world is heading for a major meltdown. Fighting to save her job and her family, Alexa finds herself with few friends and plenty of enemies. Her only hope is her colleague, the biochemist Gavin Shawlens, but he has problems of his own…
‘Toxic Minds’ is the fourth book in the Gavin Shawlens series, though it works well as a stand-alone thriller. This time the hero takes a lesser role, while the main action concerns the plight of career-woman Alexa and her daughter. This is the second time I’ve picked up a Gordon Bickerstaff novel and while it certainly is a bit of a page turner with plenty to get your teeth into, it didn’t quite have the bite and drive of my previous read (Deadly Secrets). The various plot strands are a little complex, but come together nicely at the end, with the usual Bickerstaff twists to finish off the action.
Colin Garrow 