Starred Review. Dugoni's latest novel (The Conviction; Murder One) combines the best of a police procedural with a legal thriller, and the end result is outstanding. Seattle police officer Tracy Crosswhite lost her sister Sarah over 20 years ago, and she has never forgiven herself. With no corpse discovered, there was still enough evidence to convict the man thought responsible for Sarah's disappearance. Now a body has been found and Tracy learns the remains are of her sister. Tracy has had her doubts about the guilt of the man behind bars, and she's absolutely sure there is a murderer still loose. Can she get a new trial to free an innocent man and also find out the truth? VERDICT Dugoni continues to deliver emotional and gut-wrenching, character-driven suspense stories that will resonate with any fan of the thriller genre. The author's series protagonist lawyer David Sloane is nowhere to be found, but readers will not care. In fact, they will eagerly await another story featuring Tracy Crosswhite.-Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Expert pacing saves the day in this standalone novel from Dugoni (The Conviction) starring Det. Tracy Crosswhite, a Seattle policewoman obsessed with solving the supposedly closed case of her sister Sarahs disappearance. When the young womans remains are finally discovered, Tracy returns to her hometown of Cedar Grove, Wash., in the Cascade Mountains. She is determined to reevaluate the evidence that sent suspicious local man Edmund House to prison for Sarahs rape and murder 20 years before. Dan OLeary, one of Tracys childhood friends who is now an outstanding courtroom lawyer (and virile but sensitive stud), assists her in obtaining a hearing to free Edmund and reopen the case. The plot elements may not be exactly fresh, but Dugoni does a superior job of positioning them for maximum impact, especially in a climactic scene set in an abandoned mine during a blizzard-which is melodramatic but nevertheless effective. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Tracy's younger sister has disappeared, and eventually everyone's worst fears are confirmed. The girl was kidnapped and killed. A local psycho is caught, tried, and put in his cage, but the horror resonates. Tracy's father takes his own life. Tracy quits her job as high-school science teacher and becomes a cop. This conventional opening could lead readers to think they're watching an old pro going through the motions. They'd be wrong. As a cop, Tracy has access to detectives' files and court transcripts and notices discrepancies. Soon she's leading an effort to free her sister's convicted killer, and we have the cops and lawyers who worked on the case muttering mysteriously that everything is about to come out. Tracy gets cryptic warnings about leaving the past alone. Somebody fires a shotgun through her lawyer's window. Yes, a conspiracy is revealed, but it's an unexpected one, as moving as it is startling, and it's about now that the author ramps up the tension. The ending is violent, suspenseful, even touching. A nice surprise for thriller fans.--Crinklaw, Don Copyright 2014 Booklist

A Seattle homicide detective is thrust back into a painfully personal case when the remains of her 20-years-vanished younger sister are uncovered in a shallow grave near Cedar Grove, the Washington mountain town where they grew up.Forty-two-year-old Tracy Crosswhite has long felt responsible for what happened the night her goofy, fun-loving sister, Sarah, disappeared. Former lawyer Dugoni (The Conviction, 2012, etc.) retells the events of that evening in flashback, recounting how, upon leaving a shooting championship, Tracy asked Sarah to drive her truck back to Cedar Grove during a storm so Tracy and her boyfriend could make it to their romantic dinner reservation. The next morning, the empty truck was discovered on a county road with Sarah nowhere to be found, and her disappearance turned both the Crosswhite family and the town itself upside down. As Tracy's engagement fell apart and her parents lost themselves to grief, Tracy found herself doubting the legality of the trial that eventually put local oddball Edmund House in prison for Sarah's apparent murder. Now, with the fresh evidence of her sister's remains in her arsenal, Tracy seizes the opportunity to reinvestigate Sarah's fateand the possible conspiracy she believes led a man to get convicted for a crime he didn't commit. The majority of the book centers on Tracy's quest to uncover the truth and secure a new trial for House. Though the book is well-written and its classic premise is sure to absorb legal-thriller fans, it grows a bit plodding at times, with too many pages dedicated to House's retrial.Though the pace lags at times, the characters are richly detailed and true to life, and the ending is sure to please fans. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.