Great New Mystery/Thriller
Wow. This is a great new book by a debut author. At just 170 pages it is a quick read. At first I was afraid that would limit the story, but it definitely did not. I was surprised and pleased that this story included everything that I would expect from a much longer mystery/thriller. The author does a great job of letting pieces of the story out slowly, keeping the reader's interest. The story definitely includes enough action to keep you turning pages, and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. In addition Traci Hohenstein's characters are well developed and interesting. I love that the main protagonist runs a missing person investigation service. That is a fresh approach for mystery thrillers, as is using firefighting as a backdrop. I don't know if this book will be part of a series, but just think of the possibilities presented by using missing persons as a theme. And if further stories were as good as this one, I would jump on them quickly.
While I read many different genres, mysteries have been a favorite of mine since high school when I discovered Agatha Christie, and thrillers a fave since Mary Higgins Clark came on the scene. This book holds up with the best of them, IMO. It gets 4.5 stars from me, and I look forward to reading more from this debut author.