The unsolved murder of a young activist leads to the discovery of much darker crimes in New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan’s latest compelling thriller to feature the young, edgy detective Kara Quinn and the loner FBI agent Matt Costa. This time they work to uncover possible ties to a high-stakes cartel in the Southwest desert.

Something mysterious is killing the wildlife in the mountains just south of Tucson. When a college intern turned activist sets out to collect her own evidence, she, too, ends up dead. Local law enforcement is slow to get involved. That’s when the mobile FBI unit goes undercover to infiltrate the town and its copper refinery in search of possible leads.

Quinn and Costa find themselves scouring the desolate landscape, which keeps revealing clues to something much darker—greed, child trafficking, and more death. As the body count adds up, it’s clear they have stumbled onto much more than they bargained for. Now they must figure out who is at the heart of this mayhem and stop them before more innocent lives are lost.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Papa said that the stars were God’s glitter to make the dark not as scary.

She’d been a con artist before she was a cop, and being an undercover cop was, essentially, being a con artist, but with a badge.

Matt was certainly an alpha male trying his hardest to be a beta, but he didn’t have a sexist bone in his body. Well, maybe a couple— he was a guy, after all…

My Review:

 

This was a complex, multi-faceted, and intriguing tale with haunting issues and a well-crafted writing style that packed a visceral punch without being gruesome. The gripping storylines were unpredictable and needled and poked at my curiosity throughout. The characters were as interesting and complicated as the case they were working and the clever author textured them well with authentic flaws and quirks. I can’t wait to dive into the next in the series as I’m well primed for more of the same of this wily wordsmith’s work.