The Trapped Girl by Robert Dugoni

When a woman’s body is discovered submerged in a crab pot in the chilly waters of Puget Sound, Detective Tracy Crosswhite finds herself with a tough case to untangle. Before they can identify the killer, Tracy and her colleagues on the Seattle PD’s Violent Crimes Section must figure out who the victim is. Her autopsy, however, reveals she may have gone to great lengths to conceal her identity. So who was she running from?

After evidence surfaces that their Jane Doe may be a woman who suspiciously disappeared months earlier, Tracy is once again haunted by the memory of her sister’s unsolved murder. Dredging up details from the woman’s past leads to conflicting clues that only seem to muddy the investigation. As Tracy begins to uncover a twisted tale of brutal betrayal and desperate greed, she’ll find herself risking everything to confront a killer who won’t go down without a deadly fight.

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I’m a fan of Robert Dugoni’s books, having discovered him through NetGalley.

I like his writing style. His books seem to have a bit of substance – a good balance of scene setting, characters, dialogue and importantly, as far as I am concerned, a well-written, entertaining story. This one is no exception.

The Trapped Girl is the fourth book in the Tracy Crosswhite series. Tracy is a strong character, a homicide detective in the Seattle Police Department and she leads a good team. In the previous books, she’s had problems with her boss, Captain Johnny Nolasco. They really don’t like each other and in the past he has made life difficult for Tracy but this time round, we see a slightly softer, more mature side to Tracy and while she is still disagreeing with her boss, she’s trying a different approach. Her personal life also seems more settled.

Tracy and her colleague Kins are called out to a body found near Cormorant Cove, not far from Tracy’s home. A high school student who is out crabbing illegally in Puget Sound caught more than he bargained for when he pulled up a crab pot with a young woman’s body in it. It turned out the victim had facial implants of the kind to change her appearance and by tracing the serial numbers to the manufacturer, eventually got a name from the plastic surgeon who had carried out the procedure – but little else. Lynn Hoff had paid in cash, and had requested that she be given all the photographs taken.

Further investigation leads them to believe Lynn Hoff did not want to be found and had never been reported as missing. No history, a fake social security number, no employment, no phone, nothing.

But then the story takes another twist. Tracy obtains Lynn Hoff’s drivers licence and the photo is passed around. She is contacted by a ranger based in Mount Rainier National Park. He believes the woman is someone who went missing, presumed dead, in unusual circumstances on the mountain, except he says her name is Andrea Strickland.

Just as Tracy’s team are starting to get somewhere, they are ordered to hand the case over to Pierce County who had investigated Andrea Strickland’s disappearance from Mount Rainier. Tracy wasn’t happy about this particularly since she considered their detective, Stan Fields, had carried out a pretty sloppy investigation into the circumstances surrounding Andrea Strickland’s disappearance. So of course Tracy being Tracy, she carries on investigating (just a little) after complying with the order to hand over the case.

Some of the chapters in the book are in the voice of Andrea Strickland (in journal form) so you get a lot of background as to what was happening with her work, her marriage, her husband, her friends, a few months earlier, all adding to the mystery and throwing up possible suspects.

It’s a complex plot but written so well that it is not difficult to follow. There are great twists and turns. I thought I had sussed it out, but I didn’t get it quite right. For a while it looked like I was going to be close, but then there was another twist. Wonderful stuff. Definitely a page-turner.

Although The Trapped Girl is fourth in a series, it can be read as a stand-alone.

My thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for providing an ARC.

Author’s website:  www.robertdugoni.com.

Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist - Sunil Yapa

This is a brilliant book.  I loved it.  It blew me away in a way I didn't expect.  I didn't expect it to pull so strongly on my emotions.

The book is set in Seattle in 1999 and spans one day.  The city is getting ready for one of the biggest protests in the history of western democracy, against the World Trade Organisation meeting being held there.  The Police are ready for the protesters; the protesters are ready to do what they do. A delegate is desperately trying to get to an important meeting at the WTO talks but his way is blocked by Police and protesters.

The story revolves around a father (who happens to be the Police Chief) and his estranged son, two of the police officers involved, two of the protesters and the delegate from Sri Lanka.

It all starts fairly slowly, introducing us to the characters.  However the tension is cleverly built up as the story proceeds.  I could almost physically feel the build up of frustration, fear, anger, rage and desperation in the characters.  You can sense the tensions bubbling up and the situation ready to explode into violence.  I got a feeling the day was not going to end well although there was still a glimmer of hope that some of the problems might yet be resolved.

The story of the day's events reaches a climax but in the final chapters we also get a glimpse of how each of the main characters is affected by the events of the day

The story is told from the perspective of the various characters as it happens and also in flashback to previous times.  I quite like this format as I think, at least in this story, it gives us a better insight into the individual characters.

It is also a story about how decisions and incidents (big and small) taking place during one day can have a huge effect on lives.  For me the story made me think about some of the issues raised in the book.

Sunil Yapa has written a wonderful debut novel.  It's a very powerful but very readable book.

The the Kindle edition of this book will be available from 14 January 2016 and the hardcover edition is due to be published on 4 February 2016 by Little, Brown Book Group (UK).

[I read a review copy of this book via NetGalley].

My Sister's Grave - Robert Dugoni

Sometimes I inadvertently do things back to front.  In an earlier blog I mentioned Her Final Breath by Robert Dugoni.  That book was the second in a series of crime thrillers set in the Seattle area.  It was a good book that I enjoyed without having read the first in the series.

I have now managed to read the first book in the series,  My Sister's Grave.

This book was just as good.  I liked the characters (some of whom I had met in the second book of the series) and the pace of the story was good.  Like "Her Final Breath", there is no slow start - the action starts almost immediately and interest is maintained throughout.

Tracy Crosswhite is a homicide detective.  Her sister Sarah had disappeared, and was believed murdered 20 years previously.  Tracey has spent those years questioning the facts surrounding her sister's disappearance and the trial of Edmund House who was convicted of the murder.  She thinks they may have convicted the wrong person.

When human remains are found near the town where Tracy's family lived, they are identified as her sister's remains. Tracy decides to investigate further and to get the answers she has been seeking. There are a few twists and turns and shocks along the way.

The story is told in the present (after the remains are found) and in the past (the events leading up to and following her sister's disappearance) but the shifts in time are clear.

I actually don't read a lot of crime thrillers (I just happen to have read more of them recently).  I enjoyed this one, and once I had started reading it I found it hard to put down.

Apparently there is a third book in the series due out in May 2016.



Author website:    www.robertdugoni.com

TRYING TO CATCH UP!

I've only just realised, I've read at least 5 books (possibly more) since I last posted here.

September has just galloped by.

I had a wonderful time singing with the Big Big Sing Community Choir at Glasgow Green for Proms in the Park (the last night of the Proms) and we even appeared live on BBC2 Scotland.

Two days after that I left for a week's holiday in Spain.  I did plenty of reading but no time for blogging!

I have recently been reading crime/thrillers/mysteries.  I enjoyed them all although they were all very different.  I was given advance copies via Netgalley but two of them have still to be published, one on 6 October and the other on 20 October so I'll put these in a separate post.


The first was The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan.

There are at least two stories going on here. On his last day at work Inspector Chopra encounters a distraught mother whose son has been found drowned and the body brought to the police station. No one seems to be investigating the matter. In fact Chopra's superior wants the case closed, saying the boy drowned. Chopra thinks the death could have been the result of foul play and wants to investigate.

On that same day Chopra had received word that he had inherited a baby elephant. When he arrives home from his last day at work the small baby elephant has been delivered. The problem is Inspector Chopra and his wife Poppy live on the 15^th floor of a tower block in Mumbai. However Chopra is one of these people who seems to be able to deal with anything that comes along. His wife Poppy seems the strong quiet type. Although they have been married for a long time they have no children but they obviously love each other.

Naturally Inspector Chopra continues to investigate the boy's death unofficially and uncovers some terrible goings on. You don't know who can be trusted and who is 'on the take' and/or involved in criminal activities.

I love the way the various threads of the story are interwoven. While investigating the boy's death he is also trying to find out how to help the baby elephant, now named Ganesha. The little elephant has a part to play in the unfolding investigation.

Also, unknown to his wife Poppy, he has been preparing for his retirement. All she knows is he take regular phone calls from someone but doesn't speak to her about them. Then when his investigation starts and he leaves the house, sometimes for several hours, she starts to think he has another woman.

I like the Chopras. They seem a charming couple.  Although it is a stand alone book the story ends leaving a door open for further books.  I'll be looking out for the next book!

It reminded me a little of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency (only very slightly, not a copy) although that was set in Botswana and the protagonist was a strong, sensible young woman and not a hardworking retired police inspector. If you liked that series of books by Alexander McCall Smith then you would probably like this book.

Her Final Breath by Robert Dugoni is the second book in a series of three.

I haven't read the first book but that didn't prevent me getting drawn into this story. There are references in Her Final Breath to events and characters in the first book but Her Final Breath can stand alone.   I thought this was a great book right from the start and having read it, I now want to read My Sister's Grave.

Tracy Crosswhite has returned to work as a detective following the retrial of her sister's killer and becomes involved in the investigation of what turns out to be a number of murders of young women in the North Seattle area.

It would also appear someone is out to get Tracy.

The suspense begins almost immediately - no long drawn out introduction to the characters before anything happens - and the tension is maintained throughout.

Clues are pretty scarce but there may be a link to an older homicide in the area.  However Tracy's attempts to investigate this further are thwarted by her boss at every turn.  Does he have something to hide?

There are lots of suspects along the way (and red herrings) but I didn't manage to guess the identity of the serial killer.

This is definitely one of these books that keeps you reading through the night just to find out who the serial killer is and if Tracy will be targeted next.