Review by Booklist Review
P. J. Tracy, the mother-daughter writing team of P. J. and Traci Lambrecht, is best known as the author of the Monkeewrench mysteries, which Traci continued to write after her mother's death in 2016. In 2021, she introduced a new series, about LAPD detective Margaret Nolan, with Deep into the Dark. Nolan returns in this second novel, and it's even better than the first. Grief-stricken after the death of her brother, who was stationed in Afghanistan, Nolan happens to find a murder victim, a high-profile attorney, the kind of guy who might have a few people wanting him dead. The list appears to include a very nasty Russian mobster who doesn't seem to have any problems making people who annoy him go away. But Nolan, who's as tough as she is smart, won't back down, no matter how steep the odds against her. Fans of the Monkeewrench novels, which also feature a tough, no-nonsense female protagonist, should find the Nolan books very much up their alley.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Quirky, damaged characters drive bestseller Tracy's outstanding sequel to 2021's Deep into the Dark. LAPD Det. Margaret Nolan is still carrying guilt from a line-of-duty shooting. Afghan War vet Sam Easton's PTSD is stirred when he hears rifle shots while jogging in Desolation Canyon near Death Valley. Nolan's mother, grieving the combat death of her soldier son, goes on a spiritual retreat at the wilderness compound of the Children of the Desert. Father Paul, the sect's charismatic leader, is so outraged that his consort, Marielle, has fled with their daughter that he recruits a cold-blooded killer--familiar with the preacher's earlier criminal identity as Roger "Snake" Jackson--to help recover his "stolen property." Meanwhile, Nolan's investigation into a corpse dumped in the swan pond at the Hotel Bel-Air leads her to confront an ex-KGB crime boss and to ponder how the kidnapping of the murder victim's son decades ago could have consequences today. All these plot elements come neatly together as the tension builds along with Father Paul's drug-fueled paranoia. Tracy should win new fans with this vivid, twisty crime novel. Agent: Ellen Geiger, Frances Goldin Literary. (Jan.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
In the LJ-starred series-starter Deep into the Dark, LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan joined forces with bartender Sam Easton, an emotionally shattered Afghanistan war vet, when he was accused of a crime she believed he didn't commit. No plot details yet, but they're back for a new round in this latest from New York Times best-selling Tracy, who wrote the celebrated "Monkeewrench" series with her late mother, P.J.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
LAPD Homicide detectives Maggie Nolan and Al Easton land a murder case that seems to bring them up against every malefactor in the Pacific time zone. Miles from everywhere but Death Valley sits the abode of the Children of the Desert, a spiritual retreat whose presider, Father Paul, is so evil that his wife, Marielle, is willing to risk her life to grab their daughter, Serena, and escape into the desert with her. She's encouraged and helped in her flight by Desert Storm vet Lenny Jesperson, a virtual stranger she feels forced to trust. Lenny gets mother and daughter as far as his boat, the Royal Bess, but they're snatched from their hiding place by Gregory Rybakov at the behest of millionaire businessman Ivan Lukin, who's been supplementing the fortune he's made through the behemoth Krasnoport by running drugs through the Children of the Desert and who can't afford a police investigation into Marielle and Serena's disappearance. But that's exactly what follows when Nolan seeks a break from a family drama whose latest chapter is her mother Emily's checking in at the Children of the Desert to deal with her bottomless grief over the death of her son. Sharing a drink with colleague Detective Remy Beaudreau and walking around the Bel-Air Hotel's Swan Pond, Nolan discovers a corpse in the pond. The dead man, Blake Lindgren, was general counsel to Krasnoport, and his death marks the beginning of the long, long process of tying all these threads together. Tracy spikes the mixture with a few more deaths, a lot more felonies, and several hints that Emily Nolan may not be the only relative who's passing time among the Children of the Desert. Something for everyone, and then some. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
