Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A retired Australian geologist stumbles into a conspiracy involving precious diamonds in this intriguing thriller from Kovacic (Kill Yours, Kill Mine). After losing her husband of 40 years to cancer, Rena Novak embarks on a cross-country trip they'd planned to take together. While driving on the Great Northern Highway in Western Australia , she spots smoke and, worried about a wildfire, seeks out the source. A couple hundred meters off the highway she finds a burning Toyota with a blackened corpse inside and calls the police, who ask her to stick around for a few days while they investigate. As Rena talks to locals in the nearby town of Fitzroy Crossing, she learns that the community is divided over a proposal by a diamond-mining company that wants to start operating in the area. Then Rena discovers that the dead man was a fellow geologist whom she knew decades earlier. Haunted in part by strange inconsistencies at the site of his death, including that his car was left in neutral, she launches an investigation linking his possible murder to the diamond mine. Kovacic makes Rena a three-dimensional protagonist whose sleuthing skills are impressive yet realistic, but a few too many plot contrivances keep this from achieving its full potential. Still, it's a good bet for fans of Jane Harper. (Mar.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Kovacic's latest (after Kill Yours, Kill Mine) is an atmospheric mystery with a gritty protagonist. Geologist Rena Novak and her husband always planned to camp their way across Australia when they retired. Those plans changed when Tom died before they could hit the road. His last request of Rena was that she still go on the trip. As she approaches the town of Fitzroy Crossing in western Australia, Rena spots black smoke on a track off the main highway. She finds a vehicle consumed by fire and is even more horrified to discover that there's a body trapped in the driver's seat. Even after emergency personnel put out the fire and police have taken her report, the event nags at Rena like a sore tooth. There's something about the death that doesn't sit right, and when she learns that the victim was someone she once knew, who was in the same profession, Rena opts to stick around and investigate on her own. She finds power games, small-town politics, and people who would rather Rena leave it all alone--or else. VERDICT Kovacic's smart, no-nonsense protagonist and well-drawn, atmospheric setting will appeal to fans of Jane Harper and Ann Cleeves.--Jane Jorgenson
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