The Bottom Line: An engrossing, character-driven crime thriller that thoughtfully explores grief, atonement and post-loss romance alongside gritty police work. Recommended for Karin Slaughter fans.
Miami senior homicide investigator Lisa Owens became a police officer as a direct response to the unsolved shooting death of her fiance, Scott Diaz. Was Scott, a congressional aide, gunned down for political reasons? When a D.C. cop invites Lisa to come hear about a potentially significant new piece of evidence, supportive friend Dorothy encourages her to take matters into her own hands.
But Lisa’s world is turned upside down when Dorothy herself is the victim of a shocking murder, the details of which readers won’t soon forget. Lisa, a self-described “hopeless workaholic,” is fueled by her desire to deliver answers for the families of murder victims, and with Dorothy’s death, she’s determined to give herself that same sense of closure. In the course of investigating Dorothy’s murder, Lisa finds herself in the crosshairs of a terrifying mobster known as Angel.
Greedy, unafraid and sadistic, Angel proves to be a worthy antagonist to Lisa’s relentless work ethic. Author James Foley goes to great lengths to demonstrate that Angel has little regard for human life, but his most brilliant stroke is rendering Angel so unpredictable. For example, when a drunk Wall Street trader accidentally bumps into him, spilling beer on Angel’s favorite silk suit, Angel smashes the guy’s face into a concrete pillar before punching his girlfriend in the nose. It’s a formula for an off-the-hook villain that fills the novel with unrelenting dread. And by the way, Angel proves to be just the tip of the iceberg in a deep criminal enterprise anchored by mastermind Ricardo DesFuentes.
When it comes to Lisa’s quest for justice, Foley is wisely planting the seeds for a series. While a satisfying measure of closure is achieved, not everything is wrapped up in a neat bow, and that’s something that will serve fans well over the long term. That doesn’t stop Foley, however, from advancing Lisa’s love life. Readers who value multidimensional character development will be quite pleased with Lisa’s arc.
