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This novel tells the somber story of Gaithersburg, Maryland–basedDusty Sampson, whose father abandons the family to live with a girlfriend when Dusty is 4. His mother, Dolores, tries her best to raise Dusty alone while working two jobs alongside intermittent and verbally abusive boyfriends. Dusty lacks parental guidance and struggles with attention deficit disorder in grade school; years later, he begins bullying other students for money, then takes up shoplifting and experiments with drugs. He eventually drops out of school altogether and serves a jail sentence for auto theft. The book paints a picture of a young man with abandonment issues and a tendency to make very bad decisions. Dolores takes a tough-love approach and ejects him from their home, but she softens when he shows efforts to rehabilitate himself. Before long, though, Dusty becomes a desperate, money-hungry felon, and during a restaurant robbery, he shoots and kills two employees while masked with a bandanna: “I got two bodies on me,” he yells at his getaway driver. Enter divorced father and devoted Gaithersburg policeman Sgt. Steve “Mac” MacIntosh, who assesses details, reveals suspects, and works with his team of top investigators to try to uncover Dusty’s identity and locate him to minimize further bloodshed. Although James’ novel is not a particularly cheerful one, it does offer an emotionally resonant story told in straightforward prose and devoid of narrative curveballs or complex detours. As gritty as they are, Dusty’s ordeals may resonate with readers who have encountered similar, circumstances in their own lives. The rather brief book displays James’ developing dexterity as a writer and her ability to capture the essences of characters in just a few pages. Readers of the first book in the Thin Blue Line series will welcome the return of MacIntosh as he continues to keep Gaithersburg safe and sound.

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