The Murder that Never Was

The Murder That Never Was: A Forensic Instincts Novel - Andrea Kane
I have been a fan of Andrea Kane but have not read anything by her in a long time. When offered a chance to read The Murder That Never Was, I found the title very intriguing. A psychological thriller about switched identities, with an underlying topic of the foster system, which I have come to learn a lot about lately, as a family member is currently fostering.
 
Julie Forman, a personal trainer meets and befriends Lisa Barnes when Lisa interviews for a job at her gym. Julie sees through Lisa's fake resume and offers her the job and to help her put her apartment in order. Julie see's a kindred spirit and ironically they resemble each other.
 
A young athlete and Olympic hopeful, Shannon, finds out that she has a heart condition and the cause of the problem is performance enhancing drugs. She is understandably upset and goes to Julie who has been keeping abreast of Shannon's training and finds that Shannon's trainer Jim has been giving Shannon the drugs. Julie breaks into the gym and finds incriminating evidence and plans to report the trainer. Before this can happen she is shot and killed walking home. Lisa happens to witness the shooting and afraid of what may happen to her if she reports herself a witness, assumes Julie's identity. With the help of her best friend Miles, Lisa does just that. Miles and Lisa have been friends that grew up together in the foster system and always have each others backs.
 
But things are not so simple and things go from bad to worse and Lisa enlists the assistance of an unorthodox investigation team to keep herself, her friend and Shannon safe from a killer bent on seeing that secrets stay secret. We are privy to the narcissistic scientist who wants to be known for the best drugs for athletes illegal or not, the Russian killer, the Forensic Instincts team. The Forensic Instincts team consists of a retired FBI agent a behaviorist, A reformed pickpocket, a tech wiz, a former Navy SEAL, an intuitive and a human-scent-evidence dog. Together, they push ethical and legal boundaries to justify the means. All of the characters in this novel are written with very human emotions and faults. This is a character driven novel with twists galore.
 
Will this group of people be enough to expose the corrupt organization? I can't tell you that but I can tell you that if you love a good thriller, then you can't go wrong with an Andrea Kane novel!