Jessica L. Webb’s Trigger is a suspenseful read with a unique premise: Someone has rigged human beings to spontaneously combust. One of these walking bombs wanders into the emergency room in Vancouver where Dr. Kate Morrison works, feebly warning her not to touch him before a team of police bursts in, fearing the hospital staff touching the patient will trigger an explosion. But Kate, for reasons unknown, appears to be the only person who can touch these human bombs without setting them off.
Since Kate is the only one who can treat the sick man, she teams up with the policewoman working on the case, Sgt. Andy Wyles, to whom she is immediately attracted. Andy, Kate, and Andy’s geeky partner Jack transport the sick man to a special facility where Kate can treat him and the police can try to figure out who turned him into a weapon -- and, together with Kate, find some way to “disarm” these human bombs without hurting them. And, of course, Kate falls for the confident, no-nonsense Andy.
The story is suspenseful, exciting fun. The premise drew me in immediately. Who wouldn’t be intrigued by spontaneous human combustion? (Don’t worry, there are no horrifying descriptions thereof.) But beyond just being an eye-catching premise, it’s interesting throughout. An ER doctor deals with danger and makes split-second decisions… but she doesn’t normally deal with defusing bombs. A police officer solves cases and deals with threats… but she doesn’t normally think of the bombs she must defuse as people she needs to care for.
The characters play off one another well, their building chemistry is both exciting and a sweet counterpoint to the suspense. I would recommend it both for the exciting plot and for the romantic elements. The contrast between the characters -- cerebral doctor, blunt cop -- is vivid and interesting, and the ways they bond and connect about what they do share are both believable and intriguing. And Jack is an adorable supporting character, awkward and clever.
I did have a couple of issues with the pacing. “This guy I’m trying to save might spontaneously combust” made for a very exciting hook, but since Kate can touch him safely, the suspense wore thin for me after a while. I would have liked to see an explosion happen in earlier chapters -- not to one of the main cast of characters, but perhaps to someone else they encounter, just to prove to both Dr. Morrison and the reader from early in the story that yes, this is a real threat.
The other issue I had was a minor nitpick that may not bother anyone else, but: I liked the small mystery of Dr. Morrison being able to touch the human bombs (and their seeing her as a kind of savior for it, given that they’ve been starved for human touch since they were made into weapons!) But when we discover why Dr. Morrison can touch them, it’s because of something very unique about her that I had trouble believing she wouldn’t have thought of sooner. It’s needed to make the plot work, and it didn’t ruin the enjoyment of the book for me (there’s a lot you’re just going with when you’re reading about exploding people!), but it did stick out for me.
Overall, though, I really enjoyed it, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a unique, suspenseful book with a fascinating premise.
