GONE TOO FAR

As in her series debut, Trust No One (2020), Webb presses the question of whether wealth and power can shield criminals from the consequences of their actions.

The strong working relationship between Birmingham, Alabama, police detectives Kerri Devlin and Luke Falco is tested when they catch the gang-style murders of two victims: Leonard Kurtz, the owner of the high-end tobacco and liquor store where the bodies were found, and Asher Walsh, the Harvard-educated son of wealthy parents based in Boston. Because Walsh recently became deputy district attorney in Birmingham, they assume he was the killer’s target. Kerri’s immediately distracted by the involvement of her 14-year-old daughter, Tori, in the death of a fellow student who fell or was pushed down the stairs, an incident witnessed by Tori, her best friend, Sarah, and Alice Cortez, a new student from Mexico. In the meantime, Falco learns that Walsh made a call to Sadie Cross, a former police detective whose kidnapping while she was undercover in the Osorio Mexican cartel left her with serious physical injuries and big holes in her memory. To Kerri and Falco’s fury, Sadie’s father, coldhearted DEA agent Mason Cross, takes over the case. Sadie, now a private investigator, admits to helping Walsh, who wanted to take down the Osorio cartel and hoped Sadie could help. For Kerri, helping her traumatized daughter has to come first, especially after a whispering campaign started by Alice accuses Tori of pushing her bullying classmate. The gradual return of Sadie’s memory reveals hideous details of her captivity, dangerous secrets, and surprising connections between the two cases.

An intriguing, fast-paced combination of police procedural and thriller.