Great Series

When cold-case detective Katie Scott shows a tv documentary crew around Sequoia County, she almost stumbles on the remains of 2 little sisters that disappeared from Rock Creek 2 years earlier. As she is the one who discovered the bodies and Rock, Creek has only 2 police officers, Katie and Sean Mc Gaven are given the case. Although the mother swears that she gave birth to both girls and has their birth certificates, the youngest girl, Tessa, was abducted from a park in Texas 9 ½ years earlier when she was 6 months old. Behind her ear, the number 372 is branded and has been put there before she was 2. Before they can interview the mother further, she commits suicide. Or it’s made to look as if she did. Katie has a strong gut feeling that there’s something off, not only with the mother and the home but with the whole village. The locals are anything but welcoming and remain tight-lipped.

This is the 5th book in this series but can be read on its own. Where necessary the relevant information from earlier books is repeated.

Katie Scott used to be an army explosive dog handler and completed 2 tours in Afghanistan. When she was discharged from the army, she was able to bring her K9 Cisco home with her. Something that’s highly unusual and unlikely but I’m sure there must be reasons for that. Anyway, he may be a reason for my attraction to the series. After her parents died, she was raised by her uncle, the local sheriff and now works for his cold case department, well she and McGaven are the department. She worked hard and is doing well with overcoming her PTSD. She still has nightmares and occasionally suffers panic attacks and anxiety but she learned how to handle those. Having to rappel into a ravine doesn’t really help, though. She’s in a happy relationship with her life-long best friend Chad even though there’s also some chemistry between her and the forensic supervisor. We also meet some of Katie’s army friends that come to her surprise birthday party.

The consistent dating and timing of each chapter brings on a feeling of urgency and gives an up to the minute update of the findings and goings-on. The whole story is concluded in less than a week.

The story starts out a little slow to get reacquainted with the characters but very soon the suspense rises to almost unbearable levels near the end. You have been given a lot of clues by then but there’s still something that evades us. It’s a real thriller this time and more than deserves a 5*. When it becomes clear that the killer is someone in plain view, I started to suspect even people in her own office like John.

I have one issue and that I don’t get the reason why the man in the grey truck acts the way he does. I can’t say much more about that or I give too much away.

Pine Valley and its surroundings seem to be plagued by unusual bad tempests and storms that make you run for cover and shelter. The foul weather results in fallen trees and worse flooding that can cut towns off from the outside world for indefinite periods of time. It’s not only human nature that must be watched and kept in check here but extreme weather conditions just as well.

I thank Bookouture and Netgalley for the free ARC they provided and this is my honest, unbiased review of it