Rough Justice

November 1, 2016

Because Jasmine Reed is a perpetual runaway, the Portland, ME, police are less than interested when her grandmother reports her missing. Margaret Norris hires private investigators Tess Gray and Nicholas "Po" Villere to find Jasmine, yet several other people in Portland are also searching for her, including the man who harmed her years ago. But Jasmine disappeared before he hit town, so who could be responsible? As Tess investigates, she uncovers other missing young women, all scarred or tattooed or marked in some way. Where have they all gone? Introduced in Blood Tracks, Tess and Po are memorable protagonists. Tess was a police officer who now works as a private investigator. Po is Cajun and left Louisiana after serving time in Angola Prison. Both sleuths have backgrounds ripe for further development. VERDICT The Maine setting brings to mind the mysteries of Paul Doiron, but this is much more of a thriller with some brutal overtones, more in the vein of Taylor Stevens's "Vanessa Michael Munroe" series.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2020
The opening has a delightfully shuddery feel of intrigue. A light plane goes down in the thick woods near the Canadian border. Field biologists working nearby hear the crash and rush to discover what we know they will find in the wreckage: the mangled, dead bodies of pilot and copilot. Then something we don't expect: a survivor. A woman. With a Glock. She makes the biologists promise they've never seen her. PI Tess Grey is asked by the insurance company to examine the crash site. She has questions: Who are the hard-faced newcomers flashing credentials and making demands? Why would an insurance company with its own skilled investigators hire a local gumshoe? And who is this woman who shouldn't exist? The answers come in an overwhelming orgy of blood that some may feel is too much. Innocent people die shrieking from pain; wounds are described in detail. But the identity of the mystery woman is revealed, along with her astonishing backstory. This is a great read for those who can take it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)