Linda Castillo Dead Reckoning

Dead Reckoning

Linda Castillo

Berkley, Dec 2005, $6.99

ISBN: 042520720X

Assistant District Attorney Kate Megason works the sure thing prosecution on the capital case of Burton Ellis, accused of the brutal murder of two convenience store clerks. However, Kate becomes irritated when her political supervisors assign former cop Frank Matron as her investigator; Frank was injured in a Mideast suicide bombing while serving as a deployed reservist. Kate knows that he has not physically healed and assumes that he is also mentally disturbed.

Frank immediately observes something that makes no sense. The accused took out a hidden camera that he should not have known existed. Even weirder in the robbery gone bad case is the strange fact that not all the loot was taken. Why would he leave anything behind? As Kate begins to heed all that Frank opines, they work together to uncover the truth in spite of someone with connections wanting the real facts to remain buried.

Readers will grip the pages tightly as this tense legal thriller hooks the audience to anticipate a DEAD RECKONING between the ADA and her investigator vs. an unknown brutal individual whose avarice is biblical in proportions. The story line is action-packed starting with Frank proving his worth from the start and never slows down until the final confrontation as the close and shut case becomes open and dangerous. This is suspense at its thrilling finest.

Harriet Klausner