The Fixer the Killing Kind: Jill Amy Rosenblatt

Some people have jobs that take them to many places around the world and others risk their lives every time they step outside. Katerina Mills is tenacious, astute, smart and in college but worst of hall in debt. Late with her work and term papers and hired by MJM to do jobs that most people would shy away from since they are often sinister, require killing someone, stealing and placing herself in danger. Phone calls come and she has to stop whatever she is doing, drop it all and handle the client and whatever the client wishes. She is curious and poses questions that most would not think of and she can only use her wit and sarcastic charm to get her so far when dealing with clients that pay big money. Katerina has several jobs at once the first of course is hoping to find out who killed Felicia Reynolds and we hear the police detectives on the case questioning her husband who seems aloof, disinterested, not really upset but seriously out for revenge. We meet Mr. Marcus who is rich and whose wife wants to clean him out in their messy divorce. When Kat is told she has to retrieve his white Porsche and transfer it to another location needless to say her boss, Jasmine gives her a final warning if she does not get it back. Does it belong to him? So, why did his wife take it? Each of the assignments including one for a man named Thomas Gallagher that requests she attend meetings in his place, see and then not be seen, take notes and be ready to report on what she sees, hears and learns when he decides the time and place. Added in a police officer comes to her house wanting to learn if she has had any contact with her father and her being streetwise and savvy she turns him away before he can even enter the door. Her father’s past will come back front and center and when she calls her mother asking if anyone has come to see her the response at first is negative until she thinks of someone named Sergei. Added in Kat tells her to use the cell phone she will provide her in order to contact her from now on. But, does she really understand what she is saying as she goes off into another world at times. Enter Alexander Winter who is hot, smart, a thief and who Kat finds in her apartment after Ryan, her police boyfriend leaves. Dealing with him evokes other emotions but having him find out about Sheridan and if he is with the DEA is first and foremost when dealing with her father and his past. Uncle Sergei just who is and where does he fit in, as he is the name her mother said when asked if someone asked about her. As we get to know her better we realize that this job is seriously one she might reconsider but the money is too tempting as Ryan is called to the scene of another murder which is even more gruesome and violent than that of Felicia Reynolds. Marcus wants her to steal back his car while Paul Patel that she just meets wants her to get him so exotic herb or drugs in order to complete his novel and allow his creative juices to flow. With Christmas coming fast and college classes not receiving the time they need and a cop who thinks she is a keeper and clients that want her on call 24/7 Kat sounds like she could use an assistant herself.

Hedge fund manager Simon Marcus wants his Porsche back from his hard hitting wife, which might cause her more harm than good. The job is hard but when Anthony DeSucci shows up and wants the same car what is she supposed to do? With the author wanting something quite unique where she could wind up in lockup what happens will turn her life upside down. Gallagher when you meet him seems eerie, a bored billionaire who monitors her every move and more. He has his own designs on what he would like to use her for.
As she explains what she needs to Alexander Winter who will once again instruct her on how to be a smart criminal but as the author relates can she trust him? First she needs to learn who killed Felicia but when she realizes she knows the killer will the person go after her? Kat goes about trying to steal the Porsche and gets hijacked by Marcus’s wife and is lucky to get out of there alive. Forced to take pictures of the car the wife calls him and when she returns to face him he threatens her with her job and more if she does not find a way to steal back the car for him. Added in another person wants it and now she is caught in the middle of a terrible web. The author who wants the drugs is on her case, the car needs to be stolen and everything seems to be out of whack including Kat as she does not handle stress very well. Each time Winter wants to help her or even Ryan she claims she has it under control, which she does not, thinks she can handle it all by herself because no one can be trusted to help her and she counts on no one but herself. This works to a point but in her case she needs more than help. Added in someone is after her to tell where her father is who supposedly is the head of a huge drug cartel smuggling tons in everyday. It’s as if Kat needs to prove to everyone that she can handle anything until she needs Winter to help her when things spiral out of control. So, why does she agree to get closer to Ryan when in her heart she is conflicted between Winter and Phillip?

The final scenes are dramatic as Katerina realizes that she is in over her head with too many jobs, too many demands as Marcus wants his car, the mobster wants it too, another wants his herbal drugs, while someone wants her father and will do anything short of killing her to find out where he is. Talking to her mother alarms her and Winter is now on to someone named Daniel Clay. Everyone seems too interested in Kat and the end result may cost her the freedom she cherishes as Ryan and Emma her closest friend might realize who she is and what she is doing. IS SHE HER FATHER’S DAUGHTER? As Kat things it is all over she does not know that once she is in there is no way out. Marcus and a man claiming to be in the FBI will learn just how powerful Winter’s is and the end result and the force behind the stealing of the car and the real reason is hanging on the walls of someone’s home. The ending lets you know that there is much more to come as author Jill Amy Rosenblatt lets readers and Kat know that there is nowhere to hide, no one to trust and no one that wants her alive. What happens at the end lets readers know this is just the beginning and what happens next is just another book away as the author penned: The Fixer: the Last Romanov. More to come! Who killed Felicia and the other victim? Who got the car in the end? What about the herbal drugs for the author? What about her father just what does her mother know? What about someone called Uncle Sergei? These questions are left unanswered and readers will have to wait until the next installment comes out to find out where and how Kat hopefully learns the answers to these questions and will she veer towards Winter, Ryan or someone new? Katerina is often impetuous, bold, sometimes she does not think things through yet the author allows us to very carefully and methodically created hear her voice as she recounts and recaps what she needs to know, who she is fighting against and what she still has to deal with. Thomas Gallagher, Alexander Winter, Ryan, Emma, Carlos, Vincent, Phillip, Sheridan and many more just where can if anywhere can Katerina Hide before she once again is used as THE FIXER THE KILLING KIND!

Fran Lewis: Just reviews/MJ magazine