Wild Kat

Karen Kijewski

Kat Colorado saves a man's life when his car crashed. After he cusses her out, he hires her to protect his wife. Amanda Hudson works at a medical equipment firm. She has discovered they are manufacturing and selling defective artificial heart valves. She wants to blow the whistle and have the valves pulled. The company does not want to give up its profits or reputation. Jude Hudson believes his wife car was tampered with by the company; he was the person who happened to be driving when it failed.

Amanda needs protection from her employer and herself, Kat discovers. She is idealistic about the heart valves. She knows the company is now treating her unfairly because of her accusations. Yet her zealousness will not allow her to back down. She writes to the FDA. She contacts people who have lost loved family members due to the faulty valves. She tries to get people to speak out, save the future potential recipients of the heart valve. Instead she gets locked in bathrooms, almost raped at work, her house invaded and vandalized, and her pets killed. Kat tries to help her and assist her.

Before long Kat is receiving the same sort of harrassment. Death threats abound. Kat spends her time visiting some of the lowest dives around Sacremento. Yet this case also takes her to the state capitol building, some clean old neighborhoods, and some ritzy upscale ones. Memories of old friends and her dead sister nag at Kat. All these work together for her to finally solve the mysteries in the Hudson household.

Ouch. This book deals with defective products and company cover-ups. Idealists like Amanda Hudson try to do what they think is right. But the American public know that the problems exist. If it is too expensive to pull a product, a corporation will try to find some other solution. They may have to pay off some law suits and consider it money well spent. We know of many such abuses, and some are often referred to in this novel. The reader is forced to consider and wonder how far reaching problems such as the Dow company's silicone implants are.

This is also a good mystery. Kat keeps digging, keeps pulling loose threads. The reader has no clue where it may lead. It is amazing what she discovers before she is done, including a possible murderer. This book keeps the reader entertained as well as tries to raise the social conscience.

Katwalk
Katapult
Kat's Cradle
Copy Kat
Wild Kat
Alley Kat Blues
Honky Tonk Kat
Kat Scratch Fever
Stray Kat Waltz

Slow Dollar by Margaret Maron