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The second in the superb DS Casey Wray series, this taut and complex story stretches tight, pulling the reader close into as absorbing a read as upper-echelon crime fiction can get.

Following on the heels of a major police department shakeup (read the first book for details!) Detective Sergeant Casey Wray is back — emotionally drained and on the outs with just about every cop in a leadership role in Hampstead county. United with her team, the not-so-rookie-now Billy Droker, tough-talking Dana Torres and somewhat-volatile Jill Hart, Casey must deal with social strife and politics, internal to her team, and the much more insidious departmental fracas all around her, as well as the round-the-clock pressures of solving a high profile street shooting and resulting homicide.

As Casey struggles to find support within her crumbling unit, her heads-down attempt to lead her team’s search for a killer is complicated by a series of red herrings and possible u-turns, made all the more complex by the demands of the wealthy and aggressive wife of a victim, and the scorched trail of a womanizing abuser who may or may not be the killer.

Rich with authenticity, this is a novel that beautifully captures police proceedings as well as current-day social dynamics, from the very personal vantage point of our heroine, deep in the throws of an emotional crisis encountered by scapegoating, as the wheels of justice turn, — broadly seeking not answers as much as career-serving publicly acceptable closures.

Totally absorbing, this is a tense and mesmerizing read — right up to the ending, which (no spoilers here) can only hint at more of this wonderful series to come.

A great big thank you to publisher #Orendabooks for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.