2-3-4 Challenge Book Discussions #1 discussion

On Pensacola Beach, the Coast Guard prepares for a Category 5 hurricane that has entered the Gulf of Mexico. When the air crew patrols the waterways, they spot a huge fishing cooler about a mile offshore. Drug traffickers have been known to dump coolers with smuggled product to avoid detection and pay fishermen to retrieve them. But when the crew open this cooler, they’re shocked by what they find: body parts tightly wrapped in plastic.

Though she is putting herself in the projected path of the hurricane, Special Agent Maggie O’Dell is sent to investigate. Eventually, she’s able to trace the torso in the cooler back to a man who mysteriously disappeared weeks earlier after a hurricane hit Port St. Lucie, Florida. Only Port St. Lucie is on the Atlantic side. How did his body end up six hundred miles away in the Gulf of Mexico?

Cliffhanger chapters, behind-the-scenes forensic details, colorful characters, and satisfying twists have become the trademarks of Kava’s psychological thrillers. In Damaged, she ratchets up the suspense a notch by sending Maggie into the eye of an impending monster hurricane to track down a killer.

Pensacola, Florida

Part 1 - August 22
Chapters 1-7

Part 2 - August 23
Chapters 8-29

Part 3 - August 24
Chapters 30-45

Part 4 - August 25
Chapters 46-65

Part 5 - August 27
Chapters 66-67


Character List
(view spoiler)[
Maggie O'Dell: FBI special agent, profiler.
R.J. Tully: FBI profiler and Gwen's boyfriend. Maggie's partner.
Gwen Patterson: Psychologist and Maggie's friend who's also seeing Tully.
Colonel Benjamin Platt: USAMRIID (U. S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases) colonel and doctor at Ft. Detrick, Maryland. Maggie's "friend."
Emma Tully: Tully's 17-year old daughter.
Charlie Wurth: Deputy director of the Department of Homeland Security who is a friend and ally of Maggie's.
Raymond Kunze: FBI Assistant Director and Maggie's boss.
Elizabeth (Liz) Bailey: Coast Guard Air Station Mobile rescue swimmer. She's 27-years old, Walter's daughter and Trish's sister.
Walter Bailey: Retired widower who owned a little hot dog stand called the Coney Island Canteen. Trish and Liz's father.
Trish Larsen: Liz's sister, married to Scott.
Scott Larsen: Funeral home director at Holmes and Meyers Funeral Home. Married to Trish.
Joe Black: Man who partnered with Scott to use his funeral home. Scott calls him the Death Salesman.
Lieutenant Commander Wilson: Coast Guard pilot on Liz's team at Air Station Mobile.
Pete Kesnick: Coast Guard flight mechanic, senior member of Liz's team.
Lieutenant Junior Grade Tommy Ellis: Wilson's copilot.
Carl Ganz: Captain and physician who ran a medical program for the Navy that oversaw the surgical needs for wounded soldiers.
Anslo: Pathologist in Pensacola.
Jim Cantore: Reporter from The Weather Channel.
Joshua Clayton: Escambia County Sheriff.
Billy Redding: Homeless man.
Dr. Tomich: Escambia County medical examiner.
Danny Delveccio: Young homeless man who Walter took under his wing.
Charlotte Mills: Widow who lives on Pensacola Beach. Her husband died in a plane crash on his way to deliver state's evidence against a politician.
Howard Johnson: Marina owner and owner of Howard's Deep Sea Fishing Shop.
Lawrence Piper: Conference coordinator for Advanced Medical Education Technology.
Harvey: Maggie's white Lab.
Vince Coffland: Missing person, presumed murdered.
Irene Coffland: Vince's wife.
Dr. Samuel McCleary: Pathologist.
Phillip Norris: Retired navy man who died of cancer.
Matthew: Denier at the ME's office.
Roger Bix: CDC chief of outbreak response.
Ronald (Ronnie) William Towers: One of the soldiers who died from the mysterious bacteria in Pensacola.
(hide spoiler)]

Spoiler Info
(view spoiler)[
Joe Black was really Joseph Norris. He was McCleary's diener. (hide spoiler)]

If we take profiling out of Maggie's job description, I can get on board with the stories in this series a lot better!

That is so very true Charlene. I am doing exactly that as I read the books now and they go down a lot better. I remember having to do a similar thing with Patricia Cornwell.