In 1997, the disappearance of three young girls rocked the city of Tucson, Arizona. Eleven years later, one of those girls, Micaela Brashear, comes home alive. Laura Cardinal is now working in the Open-Unsolved Unit and with a new job and a new partner, who questions her every move, Laura pieces together Micaela's fragmented memories in the hope she will learn the whereabouts of the other two children.

When a man walking his dog finds the bones of a child in a shallow grave on the mountain above town, it becomes clear to Laura that Micaela was the lucky one. But the killer isn't through yet, and after the fiery death of someone close to Laura, she realizes she faces an implacable enemy.

Kidnapping and murder of children is so especially heinous. But J Carson Black has done an admirable job of drawing the many threads together and answering the why. A police procedural with many well crafted characters, some you will like, some you will hate. ( )

I liked the second book in this series a little bit more than I liked this one. This book did have plenty of action, and some twists thrown in but I was a bit unsatisfied with the ending. I would recommend this to fans of the other books in the series. ( )

great mystery read. I will be reading more from this author. ( )

I've raced through this series. The character, Laura Cardinal seems real and you feel for her in Book 3 as she tries to get her professional and romantic life in order. She's smart and all too human.

Ms. Black's storylines are intricate and complex. Many suspects to follow up, just as you'd imagine would happen in a real case. A lot of hard work and blind alleys before you strike it lucky and catch the bad guy.

I really like this author's compelling stories which have the right amount of tension, highs and lows and finely detailed characters. A well-told tale with limited swearing & sex and not too graphic violence hits the sweet spot for me. Will be looking for more of Laura Cardinal. ( )