A FINAL CALL

A hard-boiled police detective tracks down a ruthless killer while searching for her missing brother in this crime novel.

Detective Stacy Tavitt is approached by Monica DeVito, an old college classmate bearing a desperate request—she wants the investigator to find her missing son, Colton. But the case grows dangerously complicated when Colton’s ex-girlfriend Brooke Crawford, the one he never got over, is found shot to death in her apartment, a grisly scene. There is evidence Colton was there, and he quickly becomes the principal suspect in her murder, while Monica goes from being a distraught mother to a possible accomplice. To make matters even worse—and labyrinthine—Stacy learns that Colton and Brooke broke up because she cheated on him with Jesse Williams. Jesse was the man whom Colton was imprisoned for murdering, though he was acquitted of all charges. But it becomes difficult to consider Colton the killer when both his parents are murdered as well. Meanwhile, Stacy desperately scours the city for her missing younger brother, Chance, a troubled man caught up in drugs and possibly an illicit operation run by dirty cops. Stacy knows he’s alive when she receives a postcard in his handwriting that simply says: “I am okay. But none of us are safe.” Stacy is a memorable hero—uncommonly tough but still emotionally vulnerable and willing to risk her career to find Chance. But the plot is a touch convoluted and decidedly implausible and often reads more like a soap opera than a murder mystery. In addition, Parker’s prose is by turns anodyne and melodramatic. Nonetheless, the plot charges on at a near-manic pace, and there is a lot of lucidly depicted action. And while the novel brims with clichés, it delivers a captivating protagonist and no shortage of entertainment. Readers looking for a fast-paced, enjoyable crime drama will be more than satisfied.

An improbable detective tale that will thoroughly charm readers.