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In 18 SECONDS, George D Shuman introduced Sherry Moore, a blind woman with a strange talent. If she touches the hand of a corpse, she can envision the final eighteen seconds of that person‛s life, through the eyes of the dead person. It is a tantalising ability, one which could lead Sherry in the wrong direction but which she uses to good purpose. Sherry is called upon to investigate the final thoughts of a mountain climbing drug lord. Amazingly, he was thinking about a castle in the middle of a jungle and a room in which girls are herded like cattle, each with a Haitian symbol tattooed on her face. The scene shifts to the point of view of a Polish woman, Aleksandra. She is a law enforcement officer on the trail of kidnapped women but has misjudged and become one of the captives. Meanwhile, an American family is enjoying a cruise. The family comprises the parents and two daughters, one a student and the other, younger girl, nearly 18. The girls are ashore in the Dominican Republic when Jill, the younger girl, sets off to buy a beach wrap. She is, unfortunately, targeted by a woman who claims to be a designer of such wraps, and is lured to the woman‛s van and kidnapped. Then Jill realises she has been taken for more than money. Carol Bishop, mother of the girls, is not best pleased when her elder daughter confesses that Jill is missing. Carol has a way of forcing people to do as she wishes so the Italian captain of the cruise ship is no match for her and is forced to stop, but, in the meantime, Jill is suffering outrages that should never be visited on a young girl. Shuman does not pull any punches when he relates what happens to the hapless youngsters who fall into the clutches of the slave traders. He has evidently thoroughly researched the degradations to which they are subjected, the diseases they contract, and the brevity of their lives. After all, the girls only have a limited shelf life and there are plenty more who can be lured from the East. Sherry, she of the supernatural abilities, comes in contact with the corpse of a girl who has jumped from an airplane. The pilot of the plane has chosen his victim ill-advisedly and soon Sherry is able to join the case of the drug lord with the knowledge of the castle in the jungle with that of the young girl who commited suicide rather than undergo the horrors planned for her. This book really is strong stuff. It is very obvious that Shuman views the ghastly practices with a great deal of horror. It is made more effective thanks to strength of characterization. Two strong women are at the centre of the plot - Sherry, determined to put her gift to use, and Carol, the mother of the missing girl. This is not a gentle tale-- indeed, far from it. Girls are just regarded as a commodity, easily replaced and with a limited value. The conclusion of the book is extremely pessimistic but one can only hope that the tide will turn before too long. On the other hand....
Reviewed by Denise Pickles, August 2008
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