Chills & Thrills: In the Clearing (Tracy Crosswhite #3) by Robert Dugoni

 

Hello, Fellow Book Worms and Book Dragons,

      

     In the Clearing is book three in the Tracy Crosswhite detective series by Robert Dugoni. It is published by Thomas and Mercer, an imprint of Amazon. It brings us to the heart of two mysteries; one in the present day and one begun forty years prior. In 1976 a young Native American girl named Kimi Kanasket disappeared while walking home from her job as a waitress. Officer Buzz Almond worked with a search party to find the girl, whose death was concluded as a suicide. He knew that there was more to her case than a simple suicide. Forty years later, with his funeral behind her, Buzz's daughter, Jenny, has found the Kanasket file in her father's home office. She is reunited with her old academy friend, Tracy Crosswhite at the funeral, and asks her to look into the disappearance of Kimi Kanasket. Meanwhile, Tracy's A-Team is looking into the apparent self-defense shooting death of a local man by his wife. Angela Collins and her son, Connor, are found at the scene of the shooting calm and collected. Her lawyer father, Atticus Berskshire, has taken his daughter's case. 

   As Tracy begins to unravel the clues left by Buzz Almond, she begins to see a pattern in how the case was mishandled. But mostly she sees a community that would rather celebrate the town's popular football team than mourn the loss of a teenage girl. But the four golden boys of that football team are in Buzz's folder. And as she begins to investigate their current whereabouts, Tracy discovers that Kimi's death was more horrific than anyone could have imagined and may be connected to her A-Team's case. 

  In the Clearing was a crisp, tense thriller that surprisingly contained a lot of heart. As the story of Kimi Kanansket was revealed, I saw a heartbreaking story unfold. Even when the sinister machinations behind her death were revealed, I thought of her family and how painful their lives had been for forty years. Dugoni also inserted some excellent new characters that I loved, including newspaper man, Sam Goldman. Quirky and always eager to help Tracy, Sam was not only a major help to her but provided comic relief that broke up much of the dark matter of Kanasket's case. I also found that Tracy's partners, Kinsington Rowe and Vic Fazzio, had a larger role which fleshed out their stories nicely. As I settle in with this series' characters I love it when Dugoni gives us deeper glimpses into their lives.

  This book was narrated by Emily Sutton-Smith, who makes her return, having read books one and two. By this book she has made the characters her own, playing upon their accents and personalities quite well. I have enjoyed many books narrated by her, and this was one of her best performances.

  In the Clearing was a four-star read for me. It was suspense-filled, with a storyline that tugged at my emotions. I will never forget Kimi Kanasket's story or the reasons behind her death. This was more than a thriller or crime novel, it was an exercise in humanity that challenges prejudices and people's views on the meaning of life. I was very pleased with this book, and I hope that many of you experience it as I did.           

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