In the Clearing by Robert Dugoni

In the Clearing by Robert Dugoni
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Detective Tracy Crosswhite is asked by Jenny, a former police academy classmate, to investigate a cold case that her father worked on forty years before. A young Native American high school girl was found in a river and it was ruled a suicide, but Jenny's father Buzz never believed it to be so. Tracy agrees to take on the case and it seems that Buzz was on to something and that there are people who want the truth to stay buried...

In the Clearing is the third and latest book in the Tracy Crosswhite series and I have eagerly waited to get to the book. The case in this book reminds me a bit of the case in the first book when Tracy investigated her dead sister's murder after her body had been found after 20 years. Jenny herself was a bit hesitant when it came to asking Tracy about the case because of the similarities; a young girl cut down early in life, but Tracy wanted and felt that she could take on the case.

The book was good, I do have a weakness for cold cases and cover up stories, and little towns with dark secrets. The book actually has two cases, one that Tracy wasn't that much involved with, but that her colleagues worked with and it didn't take up so much of the books pages. A woman is said to have shot her soon to be ex-husband, but then the woman's son confess to shooting his father. To be honest, I didn't find that case especially interesting to read about and part of me wished that the book had only focused on the cold case, but I guess her partner Kins had to do something while Tracy was investigating the cold case. Although the answer to the cold case made Tracy realize something about the shooting drama. So, in a way, the cold case helped point out the answer to the present case, even though Kins solved it himself.

I do think this book was a bit better than the previous book. However, I still think the first book is the best of them all. There is just something very tragic with the first book, with Tracy searching for the truth about her sister's murder. Still, this book was well written and engrossing to read.

Can one read the book without having read the previous books? Yes, every book can be read separately. Sure, it could be wise to read the books in order to get a better understating of Tracy's and the rest of the character's history, but the cases don't demand previous knowledge.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!

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