Once again Michele Martinez, author of Most Wanted, makes use of her intimate knowledge of combating drug dealers and the intricacies of prosecuting hardened criminals to tell a powerful and compelling story.  This novel stars the protagonist of her first book, Federal prosecutor Melanie Vargas, and a cast of characters that includes many from that same novel but also introduces some new players. 

Melanie's hard-charging and very ambitious boss has saddled her with a difficult assignment: find and prosecute the murderer of two rich young girls, students at a posh and prestigious East Side school.  They have been found dead in the home of one of the girls' parents - who also happens to be a very influential politician who does not intend to let anything hurt his chances for election.  Heroin overdosing is a messy and painful way to die, but there are other complications here as well.  A young Latina girl who attends the same prestigious school - on a scholarship - is missing.  Has she been kidnapped?  Has she run away?  Is she the supplier of the drugs?  

In addition to the deaths of the young girls, a substantial amount of money is being siphoned out of the accounts of "Miss Holbrooke's School", on the order of millions of dollars.  What is the tie to the drug overdose deaths of the the two girls?  

Of course, complicating all this is Melanie's partner for this assignment.  He happens to be Dan O'Reilly, and they are both hurting from the last time they were together, because of the angry and painful way they parted.  Difficulties arise because of the intensity of their emotions, making things even harder than they already are.  

Despite many twists and turns, the story comes to a very satisfying conclusion.  Of course, I can't understand why Melanie has such a hard time handling a gun - very klutzy - but that's probably just because of my own background.  

If you have ever watched one of the popular TV series that shows law enforcement and prosecution, and wondered what happened between scenes, this is the kind of book you'll love.  It explores more than the bare bones of the story, allowing us a peek into not only the procedural aspects of the case, but how the interactions of the characters on both sides of the law affect their thoughts and actions.

Get it.  Read it.  You'll enjoy it.  I did.  And I'm looking forward to reading more about Ms. Vargas and her efforts to uncover the truth and put the bad guys behind bars.

Copyright ©2006, Tony Burton