Tuesday, January 24, 2017

The Trapped Girl Book Review

The Trapped Girl by Robert Dugoni

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Blurb:

When a woman’s body is discovered submerged in a crab pot in the chilly waters of Puget Sound, Detective Tracy Crosswhite finds herself with a tough case to untangle. Before they can identify the killer, Tracy and her colleagues on the Seattle PD’s Violent Crimes Section must figure out who the victim is. Her autopsy, however, reveals she may have gone to great lengths to conceal her identity. So who was she running from?

After evidence surfaces that their Jane Doe may be a woman who suspiciously disappeared months earlier, Tracy is once again haunted by the memory of her sister’s unsolved murder. Dredging up details from the woman’s past leads to conflicting clues that only seem to muddy the investigation. As Tracy begins to uncover a twisted tale of brutal betrayal and desperate greed, she’ll find herself risking everything to confront a killer who won’t go down without a deadly fight. Once again, New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni delivers a taut, riveting thriller in the fourth installment of his acclaimed Tracy Crosswhite series.

Review by Brittany:

I have become a huge fan of Dugoni's Tracy Crosswhite series, devouring the other three books before this one. I was able to get an advanced copy of this one through NetGalley, and I devoured it in just the same manner.

One thing that I love about Dugoni is that he is able to make each novel just that little bit different enough from the last that they don't all feel like the same book, even though the characters are the same. In this one, Dugoni gives little snippets from the point of the view of the victim, either confirming or disproving piecing of evidence that the homicide team has found. This added a layer of intrigue, while also allowing the reader to get to know the victim on a more personal level. This technique hooked me.

As usual, the dialogue between Tracy and partner Kins is both character building and story telling, developing their relationship more and more throughout each novel while also filling the reader in on the thought processes of the detectives as they work on solving the crime. The same thing happens with detectives Faz and Del, with a little comedy thrown in the keep some light in what could otherwise quickly become a heavy murder story.

Dugoni also develops Tracy's personal life in this one, exploring the idea of Tracy and Dan having children and whether or not they want to move forward in their relationship or maintain the status quo. Having Dan there as a supportive character gives more insight into each case Tracy works, but it also serves to develop Tracy as a character.

The victim in this story, Andrea Strickland, turned out to be such a wonderful character. The glimpses into her life build her into someone who has struggled from the beginning, and yet she finds a way to survive. She keeps hoping that life will get better and she just keeps on going. And while there's a part of me that recognizes that people have no choice but to keep on keeping on, I still respect the fact that she did it.

The climax to this novel was, in typical Dugoni fashion, a last minute surprise to me. Just when I thought I had things figured out, Tracy gets that one last piece of evidence, makes that one last connection, and it totally blows the story open. There are few things that are greater than being continually surprised by a novel, and Dugoni does that extremely well.

If you aren't reading the Tracy Crosswhite series, you need to be. These books are all amazing, well-written suspense novels, with snarky and heartfelt characters built right in. Pick these up!

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