Charlie Hunter retired from the force at 40 to relax, work on his boat and go fishing with his son on weekends, not become an amateur sleuth. But he can’t say no to Kara Webb when she seeks his help in tracking down her sister, missing for 15 years.
The disappearance of teenaged Jasmine Webb was one of the first cases Charlie worked on after being made a detective. He’s never forgotten it or his suspicions, even after the girl’s parents told police they’d heard from her and the file on Jasmine was closed.
When Charlie’s son is threatened, finding Jasmine becomes even more important—it’s no longer just about closure, it’s about protecting his family. Which makes the constant dead ends all the more frustrating. Until Charlie realizes that the question they should be asking isn’t where Jasmine is, but who Jasmine has become…
Charlie Hunter is a bit surprised when he is visited by a woman claiming to be the sister of a victim in a case that he investigated when he first became a policeman. He’s since retired after being a bit disillusioned and is trying to live a quiet life. Kara Webb shows up and now wants his help. You see 15 years earlier her sister disappeared and Charlie and his partner were assigned to the case. They couldn’t figure out what had happened but then the sister, Jasmine, called and wrote a letter, said she was fine and the case was dropped. Kara was only 12 at the time but missed her sister fiercely. It’s been 15 years and Kara never heard from her sister again. Now Kara & Jasmine’s brother, Brett, has died and Kara needs to inform Jasmine of the news…along with just wanting some answers after all of this time.
Kara uses all of her wiles to try and coerce Charlie into helping her but it’s a veiled threat to his son by an unknown person that eventually gets his ire up so much that he needs to find out what happened. Charlie and Kara decide to investigate further and find out some much needed information and plan to work with it. Before they can make a move, however, they are visited by Charlie’s old boss who is now working for a secret British government department and wants Kara and Charlie’s help to bring down Jasmine’s husband.
Kara’s not sure she believes everything she hears about who her sister is now but she’s willing to help as long as it puts her in touch with her sister.
While we are seeing these events happen with Kara and Charlie we are also getting bits and pieces of Jasmine – now known as Nadia – and her life. She’s married to Igor who is ex-KGB and is now a mafia crime boss. He seems to be drugging her after the death of her brother telling her that he is doing it for her own good. She’s confused as to why he’s acting the way he is and is a bit disillusioned herself. She’s not ignorant of his life and what he does but her real focus is her children and to make sure they’re safe.
This is a pretty darned good mystery. I haven’t read a book that’s strictly a mystery in a while. Yes, there is a relationship that begins with Kara and Charlie but this definitely isn’t a romance. The mystery of what happened to Jasmine is quite complicated and involves so many people and so many lies it’s sometimes hard to follow. But the author really did a great job of giving us all the parts and then bringing them together in a way that was both shocking and satisfying. Yes, the end was quite shocking with a twist that I NEVER in a million years would have seen coming but on thinking about the story it really couldn’t have ended any other way and all worked out.
This is my first read by this author and I will more than likely read her again.
Rating: 4 out of 5
W. Soliman
Carina Press
Leave a Reply