A Voice from the Field

December 21, 2015
In this familiar tale of a cop in search of redemption taking on human traffickers, Det. Tia Suarez, whom Griffin introduced in 2015’s Benefit of the Doubt, persuades her boss to permit her to go back on the street, even though she has suffered from PTSD ever since being shot. Assigned to an undercover detail in Milwaukee, Wis., as part of a regional vice operation, Tia poses as a prostitute. Her first night, she’s almost abducted by two bad guys. One of them, Gunther Kane, is caught, but the other man, who had a young girl captive in the back of a van, escapes. Tia is outraged that her account is questioned in court, and that Kane is let go with a slap on the wrist, despite having assaulted an officer. Though she has a history of hallucinations, Tia is positive about what she saw, and she will stop at nothing to find the kidnap victim. Griffin, a 25-year veteran of law enforcement, provides a sympathetic portrait of a decent cop trying to do her duty. Agent: Jill Marr, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.

February 1, 2016
Following last year's Benefit of the Doubt, Griffin returns to the Newberg, Wisconsin, police department. An ex-marine, Officer Tia Suarez is tough, but a recent shooting and subsequent visions of a haunted young girl have others questioning her fitness for duty. When Gunther Kane tries to abduct Tia when she's on a prostitution stakeout, she swears she saw another woman tied up in the back of his van. She can't believe her ears when charges aren't filed against him. Then she learns that the feds want Kane on bigger charges for his alleged involvement in white-supremacist activity and human trafficking. Kane is the kind of creep who will give readers nightmares. No super-slick Hollywood villain, he is big and mean, the reason you check the backseat of your car at night. Fortunately, Suarez isn't a one-dimensional female cop. She's angry and impatient, and has some literal ghosts to battle. A convincing hybrid of thriller, procedural, and midwestern noir.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)