Book Title: The Trapped Girl (Tracy Crosswhite #4) Review

Author: Robert Dugoni

Genres:  Thriller

Pub Date: 1/24/17

4 STARS

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.

 Detective Tracy Crosswhite was first introduced to the reading world in Robert Dugoni’s “My Sister’s Grave” and I immediately became enamored with this strong yet flawed woman. She is haunted by the disappearance and death of her younger sister many moons ago. With each subsequent novel and homicide, I’ve become more and more invested in not just the solution of the crime but the lives of Tracy’s extended family…which really happens to be her colleagues.

Number four doesn’t disappoint.

You are immediately engrossed with the mysterious body stuffed, which was discovered by a teenager who happened to be illegally crabbing in the wee hours of the morning. With great deductive reasoning, Tracy and her partner, Kins, and her detective pod of Fazz and Del, do unravel the identity of the body. And that’s just the tip of the mysterious iceberg.

But we also don’t just take the procedural ride with Tracy…there are insights into her psyche and the fact that, even though the death of her sister is in the distant past, the loss still haunts our heroine. Fans of the Tracy Crosswhite series also get a very satisfying fix of her love interest, Dan, and their two very large dogs. Unfortunately, her chief, Nolasco, makes an appearance and hasn’t shrugged off his superiority complex.

Trapped Girl is a page-turner and this time around I learned about guerilla emails and skip tracers. Additionally, you just know that the solution is not going to be tied up in a box with a neat bow. Looking forward to getting my hands on the fifth in the series, “Close to Home,” especially to see what happens next in Tracy’s life.