I picked up this book with anticipation and trepidation combined. Anticipation because Lourey's writing draws me in. Trepidation because her book The Quarry Girls scared the giblets out of me. This story was gripping without scaring me silly, probably because it dealt with issues foreign to me. There were still occasions when I had to go do housework and calm down.
Van Reed is an unusual law enforcement officer. She grew up on a commune run by a psychopath, Frank. She has unresolved trauma issues, including really awful nightmares about horrible things being done to helpless people. A news story early in her career has revealed that she is getting true visions of actual crimes. Her first partner on the police force believed her—she would tell him her “hunches" and he would do the investigative work necessary to confirm them and make a lawful arrest. When he dies, she is vindictively hounded out of the police department. She finds a haven in the Cold Case branch where her main tormentor had limited access to her.
Then a woman is found buried alive and her identity is determined to be that of a girl abducted in 1980. The case is known as the Taken Ones, two little girls vanishing on a hot summer day. Van immediately claims the cold case files, but her nemesis, Comstock, is working the current murder and he has lost none of his hatred for Van. However Van has a good team and the forensic scientist, Harry Steinbeck, is a solid supporter (with his own issues). But when Van finally confesses one of her visions to him, she is justifiably worried that he too will think she's a nut job. Instead, he arranges an intervention which reveals the truth of her visions and cements their partnership.
Reed and Steinbeck make a good team. Steinbeck is logical, reasonable and neat. Reed is emotional, excitable and a slob. They are complementary in so many ways. A second book featuring this duo will be coming out this fall and I have my fingers crossed that my library will order it.
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