Another homicide detective with a secret –  she killed someone (oh my – sigh).  But this time who and when are up front and the crime is the retaliation which follows.

The twist is that because the guy Casey Duncan killed was the relative of a mobster she needs to get away from the retaliation which has now become a serious problem.   Casey has no parents,  husband or children who might be threatened,  but she does have a roommate/best friend named Diana who seems to be the needy type to which abusers are attracted and now she’s trying to get away from her ex-husband,  a serious abuser.

*******
City of the Lost
by Kelley Armstrong
2016 / 416 pages
read by Therese Plummer 13h 47m
rating –  B  /  crime/procedural-thriller
(1st in Rockton series – or Cassey Armstong series)
*******

Then it gets interesting because Diana and Casey are able to get ahold of a kind of sanctuary town in the wilderness of Ontario, Canada which finally,  but reluctantly,  accepts them.  In order to be actually admitted to the town of Rockton,  the pair has to leave everything and everyone they know behind so as to create an entirely new life.   They’re going to be living off the grid in the wilds of Canada.  

Rockton is a self-suffient community so the folks there are relatively safe from whomever was after them – or whatever they are running from.  There are some innocent people as well as some dangerous people there and now the community has problems with drugs and other illegal activities –  including missing people and grizzly murders.  Even the council isn’t clean – only the original founders still keep the hope.   Rockton is not a safe place and that’s essentially why they take the two women,  not because Diana needs to be hidden,  but because they need the homicide detection services of Casey.

After Casey and Diana get to Rockton there is a certain dystopian feel to the novel,  kind of like Steven King’s  Under the Dome.  But be warned – there’s also more than a bit of a romance involved –  it’s never overshadowing but  it’s close. Mostly it just adds complications to the plot in general

Casey is a strong,  likable and very nicely developed character but even as a 1st person the reader still wonders what’s making her tick.   Also,  there are a couple of other well-drawn characters including Eric Dalton,  the sheriff – he’s a kick – very complex.

The setting is adequate but I never really got the “feel” of outback Ontario although the potential is there.   The set-up and crimes are a bit far-fetched but not quite beyond my suspension of disbelief.  The plot is tension filled and quite gritty.  There are some really good twists – several.  The length of the book is not wasted.  a page-turner.

Yup –  I have the next installment of the series on my wishlist.   (g)