What made those opening pages even more frightening to me was realizing that the time frame and location parallel a true event. Knowing that gave the opening an unsettling feeling because suddenly, what I was reading felt much closer to reality. Sometimes it is that little bit of truth woven into a story that makes you stop and think.
Investigator Jake Ward is faced with plenty of challenges as he begins working through the investigation. And as if trying to piece together what happened isn’t enough, Ward is also dealing with cancer. Yet he puts his own health concerns aside and focus on the case in front of him.
Before Ward can begin questioning Miss Anderson, he must first read her Miranda rights. She sits in the polygraph chair as Ward begins his questions. He quickly notices that when she isn’t zoning out, her attention seems to be focused on the people around her. Why? What is she seeing or thinking that Ward hasn’t yet figured out? Then Ward reaches down and realizes he is unarmed.
There are moments like this throughout the story that made me slow down and pay attention.
Ward talks about police work and how some of the best police work involves knocking on doors. There is something very true about that. Sometimes it isn’t the high-tech equipment or some dramatic breakthrough that solves a case. Sometimes it is simply talking to people. Who knows what someone might say, or what small detail might finally help put the pieces together?
Those little details are what kept me turning the pages.
The investigation takes an unexpected turn. There is a commotion, followed by shots fired, and suddenly Ward is on the radio saying those chilling words: officer down.
At this point, the questions begin to multiply. I found myself wanting to know how all of these pieces would eventually come together. A SERT mission is underway. A Bearcat is on the move. There have been two shootings in less than a week, and research involving quantum physics and neuroscience begins to emerge.
And I kept coming back to that young boy from the opening.
What does he have to do with what is happening now? Could something that happened so many years ago have a connection to the investigation unfolding in the present? And what else is waiting beneath the surface?
Those are questions I leave for the reader to discover.
I received a copy of this thrilling story from David A. Wilson
Author the Author
David A. Wilson spent over two decades as an Alaska State Trooper, working major crimes across some of the most remote and beautiful terrain in the country. He splits his time between Alaska and Kentucky.
