I tried to give this one a higher grade. And I think if I had read the first 2 books in this series I probably could have, but I haven't read those books and the truth is this one is slow when it starts and broods along at a very slow pace for quite a while. There is a story where Kate Martinelli looks for a boy that has gone missing, but it is a very thin plot line and it is obvious it is not really the heart of this story. When the book does pick up the pace, the crime happens out of her jurisdiction and Kate has only some fringe involvement. The pace picks up because to some degree the heroine does something she probably should not have done, take a 12 year old kid with her on a personal trip to see some one that has told her she does not want to see Kate. But Kate decides to take the 12 year old girl with her and go see her friend anyway. Then the girl, Jules, goes missing.

The strength of the book is the character development that occurs for Kate and Jules (to a lesser extent the same can be said for Kate's boss who is getting married). This part of the book for those who have read the first 2 books already is probably very important. But for those of us who have not read those first 2 books, there is some difficulty relating to any of the characters as they move so slowly and secretively at times. I will say that the character developement is well done, I just didn't know the characters well enough to feel attached to what, for Kate in particular, is a very painful place. ( )

Perhaps my favorite of the Kate Martinelli series. ( )

The second book in the Kate Martinelli series. After her serious accident, Kate's lover has decided to go off alone and rethink their relationship. Kate is devastated, because the accident was caused by Lee's involvement in one of her police cases and because she was totally barred from the decision making process. The relationship is explored mostly in Kate's musings and anesthesia induced dreams, following an attack by a felon. In the midst of all this angst, Kate's detective partner is planning his wedding. His almost step-daughter is estranged from her mother and strangely enough turns to Kate for companionship, strange because Kate does not consider herself at "kid person'. There is other police and two missing teen-agers,but the heart of the story is the void left in Kate's life. ( )

Great author, great book. ( )