The Forgotten Girls

January 9, 2017
In Laukkanen’s exciting sixth novel featuring Kirk Stevens and Carla Windermere of the joint FBI and Bureau of Criminal Apprehension violent-crimes task force in Minnesota (after 2016’s The Watcher in the Wall), the pair investigate the murder of Ash, a runaway of about 20, whose body was found in a snowdrift by railroad tracks in Boundary County, Idaho. She was evidently strangled while riding the High Line freight train that runs through the Northern Rocky Mountains. Though the police paid little attention to her death, Ash had a devoted friend—another train hopper, Mila Scott. When Mila learns that some sort of “ghost rider” has been preying on young women along the High Line, she refuses to rest until she has avenged Ash. Laukkanen is at his best in describing Mila’s grueling travels through the frigid Northwest in pursuit of the killer. While the concluding manhunt isn’t as gripping as the sections in which Mila stars, the interplay between Stevens and Windermere as they race to save Mila are expertly handled. Agent: Stacia Decker, Donald Maass Literary Agency.

January 1, 2017
The sixth fast-paced entry in the Stevens-Windermere crime-fighting series (The Watcher in the Wall, 2016, etc.).Runaway Ashlyn Southernwood knows better: "You don't ever surf trains on the High Line," because "there's something evil up there" on the prowl for vulnerable young women like her. But she hops a High Line freight train anyway and doesn't survive the Prologue. Soon, police find cellphone photos suggesting that someone is killing a lot of girls--forgotten girls--whom no one knows or cares about. But the violent-crimes task force of Kirk Stevens and Carla Windermere cares a lot. He's with Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, she's from the FBI, and thriller readers won't find a more dedicated series team anywhere. Windermere is the primary character, a "whip-smart" and beautiful African-American agent who's relentless in her pursuit of bad guys. There's no obvious sexual tension between her and the happily married Stevens, who is close to being her equal. But there's plenty of sexual tension in the "ghost rider," who just can't resist hopping the long-haul freight trains in search of more women to kill, especially the pretty ones. Stevens and Windermere know he's killed at least 25. The villain is a survivalist who thinks of women as "ignorant beast[s], simple and cruel," who have always rejected him. The former Army Ranger washout burns with anger and is "a damned evil soul" and "a creepy-ass dude" who finds killing to be fun. When one victim, Pamela Moody, barely escapes half dead from her injuries and the bitter winter cold, readers feel the chill. Maybe she can help the investigation, but only if she survives. Laukkanen combines great storytelling with deep compassion for the underdog. Despite brief references to earlier cases, you can safely read the novels in any order.

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December 1, 2016
Young freight-rider Ash Southernwood hopped a High Line train in Chicago and wasn't seen again until a railroad crew found her beaten, strangled body in a thawing Idaho snowdrift. Bodies in Idaho aren't usually under the jurisdiction of the Minnesota BCA-FBI violent-crimes task force, but agents Kirk Stevens and Carla Windermere (The Watcher in the Wall, 2016) get the case when photos of the woman's body are found on a Minnesota tractor salesman's phone. During intense questioning, the pair discover that the photo was uploaded to the cloud through a phone stolen from the salesman months earlier. Following the trail of sporadically uploaded photos, Stevens and Windermere delve into the freight-hopping subculture. As they work to flush out Ash's killer, their investigation points toward a serial killer preying on vulnerable, marginalized women along the High Line. Laukkanen develops the cast of freight-riders with compelling backstories as he tests Stevens and Windermere with punishing winter conditions for an eerie, suspenseful hunt.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

October 15, 2016

The multi-award-nominated Laukkanen returns after The Watcher in the Wall with another thriller starring Kirk Stevens and Carla Windermere of the joint BCA-FBI violent crime task force. Here they're following up scant clues to a killer targeting young female drifters on the High Line train traversing the northern Rocky Mountains. Drawn on real-life cases.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.