Book Review Rewind: A Steep Price by Robert Dugoni
Hello, Fellow Book Worms and Book Dragons!
Last Tuesday the eighth book in the Tracy Crosswhite series was released. Counting down to my review of In Her Tracks, I have decided to present my reviews for the first seven books. I hope that I can encourage you to pick up this amazing series.
A Steep Price is Robert Dugoni's sixth full-length novel featuring Tracy Crosswhite (there are also two short novels). It is published by Thomas & Mercer Publishers, an Amazon imprint. In this tense and shock-filled novel, we are introduced to a married and pregnant Tracy Crosswhite. She is currently testifying at a murder trial and has been away from her team of detectives. Tracy continues to go through the motions of trial life and looks forward to its end. Her partners Del Castigliano and Vic Fazzio are working a case involving the murder of an activist that may be tied to the son of a criminal Fazzio put away a decade before. Meanwhile, the hiring of a new female detective sets Tracy even more on edge. The new detective, Andrea Gonzalez, is sitting at Tracy's desk and using her computer while Crosswhite is at trial. It appears that her replacement has just been hired for when she is on maternity leave. Tracy thinks that it would greatly please Tracy's boss, Johnny Nolasco, to finally have her out of his department and replace her permanently.
Then Detective Katie Pryor contacts Tracy about a missing person case involving a college student. The woman, Kavita Mukherjee, was last seen alive by her best friend and roommate, Aditi Dasgupta. Kavita is a bright woman and promising med student, which makes her disappearance even more mysterious. As Tracy begins to dig into Mukherjee's vanishing act, Del and Faz are centered in a case that is growing increasingly riskier. When Faz and Gonzalez attempt a suspect apprehension, the suspect ends up dead. This puts Faz and Gonzalez under investigation as to why an unarmed man was shot by one of their own. But it is Gonzalez that shot the man, and she is not admitting to this. Will Tracy find Kavita? Can Faz prove his innocence? No matter the outcome, there will be a steep price to pay.
A Steep Price was the best of the series thus far. I was invested in the main protagonists and it was great to see them return. Tracy and her husband Dan have been through a lot in the past five novels. And Dugoni gave them a reason to celebrate with the impending birth of their child. Vic Fazzio is dealing with plenty of emotional baggage at work and at home. Del Castilgliano is still grieving after a death in his family. The two mysteries presented were very different from one another, which added variety to the novel. I was constantly surprised by the clues that continued to pour in, giving each case extra layers. The dual finale set this book on fire and escalated into a blaze that tested Tracy's team. And as a gift to fans, Dugoni carefully took every arc from the five previous books and deftly wrapped up each neatly in the book's epilogue.
I read a Steep Price in part with the narration of actress, Emily Sutton-Smith. She has read every novel and one short story, which made returning to Tracy Crosswhite easy. Her sense of urgency and dramatic delivery of the narrative was excellent. And once again her Vic Fazzio had me laughing. It was great to have her read another one of Dugoni's books.
A Steep Price was a five-star read for me. I have a fondness for these characters and I felt that Dugoni wrapped this series up nicely. It was at times heartbreaking and always thrilling. This novel was packed with excellent storytelling and character development that I loved. I highly recommend this series to any fans of crime thrillers. You will not be disappointed.
Have fun reading this week. Let me know in the comments below what you are reading this week.
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