P. J. Tracy

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

A man has been shot in his car in a rough area of town and then his former business partner's wife is kidnapped. This is mainly Nolan and Crawford doing the investigating, but there are a wide selection of other police officers, including Remy, Nolan's love interest. I like the way the author is developing their relationship. I have slightly lost track of Sam and Melody, but if you remember them from previous instalments they are here too.

I found the plot well paced and the story as a whole a page-turner. It managed to be realistic without being unduly violent and there is a fair amount of humour too. There were a couple of plot points I might quibble about - would audits etc really have missed what was going on at the pet food company? what was with that decision taken by one of the police officers at the end? - but overall, recommended.… (plus d'informations)

This is book 3 of the Det Margaret Nolan series. Each book appears to have the same characters that can get confusing at times. The series actually has two main characters as Sam Easton plays a central role in the first two books as well. The LAPD detectives get called to the scene when a dead body of actor Evans Hobbes is discovered. They need to determine if it was accident or if someone killed him. This continues the complex story murder and mystery with likeable interesting characters.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this complimentary digital copy. My review contains my honest, unbiased opinions of this novel.… (plus d'informations)

LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan struggles after the death of her brother Max in Afghanistan. Sam Easton continues to be a character in this book series. There are many of the same characters in the books and could be read as a stand alone novel.

Detective Nolan's mother Emily tells her she will be going on a retreat to help her grief the loss of Max. The name of the retreat center, Children of the Desert, is a topic of discussion for many. Sam is asked by a friend to help rescue a woman and her daughter who fled the compound in Desolation Canyon in the middle of the desert. Nolan discovers that the Children of the Desert is a religious cult and desperately seeks to save her mother who unknowingly went there for respite. The story is complex with ties to the Russian mafia using the retreat center for their illegal smuggling activities.… (plus d'informations)

“Unlike any other species on the planet, humans possessed the vexing capacity to dwell in the past or speculate about the future, which sometimes made life unreasonably difficult.”

Sam Easton still has nightmares of his time in Afghanistan after his wife, Yukiko, left him. He struggles daily with the support of therapy and his mother, Vivian Easton. Detective Margaret Nolan arrives at the scene of a murder with her experienced partner and things aren't looking well for Sam. Although Detective Nolan sympathizes with him as she recently lost her brother in Afghanistan, she still needs to stay focused on the evidence. He is a likeable character who because of his PTSD and blackouts finds himself in questionable situations like the suspect of a gruesome murder. Since Detective Nolan doesn't plan a big part of this novel I can only guess this sets the stage for the book series.… (plus d'informations)