No Man's Land

I loved this fabulous novel! This one-of-a-kind mystery is challenging, finely plotted and executed with excellence. It is like visiting with old friends to spend time with the characters again, both Meg and her closest search and rescue buddy at the FBI, her sister and the guys they are dating. This story has exclusive victims and a setting that I have not seen before. The setting the murders are woven into is that of going into urban exploration sites, buildings or building complexes that are long abandoned and disintegrating. It is a first-time venture into an urbex site that brings a death to the attention of Meg and her team. Meg and Hawk, her search-and-rescue partner/ black lab, are out with boyfriend Webb and his firefighting co-worker Chuck, are out to get a new training experience. Not only are the sites dangerous, but they would not have scents of living people as Hawk is trained for. Hawke has a surprise for them when he alerts and leads them to the roof. Deep inside the coal bin lies the remains of an older woman who died within the last couple days. There is no possible way she could have gone to the roof and into the coal bin on her own. McCord, who Meg met several months earlier at a rescue site, is an investigative reporter for the Washington Post. He provides priceless research for FBI cases in exchange for an exclusive story when the case is resolved. McCord is now dating Meg’s sister Cara. He recalls a story about a man who died in an abandoned building earlier that year in a nearby state, and there is a possibility that it could open a case for the FBI. When her boss at the FBI canine unit finds at least two possibly related deaths, they are alerted whenever an elderly person goes missing. It takes McCord to find a potential, outlandish link between the victims, leading the special agent brought onto the case to the real link between them. As additional seniors are taken, Chuck and McCord help them find the best urbex sites to search, which brings results to tie the urban exploration community with the murders. This novel is fraught with incredible tension that took away my breath and kept my heart pounding through several outstanding scenes! This armchair sleuth felt as if I were there at the sites, especially the one on which Meg and Hawk go with only McCord giving her information by phone. I cannot imagine what first responders such as Webb and Chuck go through as firefighters, and first responders in general when trying to rescue people from disasters of any kind! The mystery is very well designed and completed, and I can’t wait to read the next one. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys well-written mysteries with K-9 teams, one-of-a-kind motives and settings, with intense, stunning scenes and resolutions. Another not to be missed in this series! From a thankful heart: I received a complimentary copy of this novel; a review was not required.

No Man’s Land by Sara Driscoll FBI K-9 #4 Have any idea what urbex is? I sure didn’t when I began reading this book but it was definitely something new and intriguing. Who knew that people go out dare-defilishly exploring buildings that are wrecks and no doubt should be condemned and knocked down BUT for Meg and her K-9 partner who go into dangerous places looking for survivors an urbex site is a great place to train...with someone that knows what they are doing. The descriptions of the derelict buildings in this book reminded me of an exhibition at the Sursock Museum in Beirut that I attended this year. The photographs were of abandoned buildings in Lebanon. It was haunting and disturbing and this book’s sites were no doubt the same. And, to have a fiendish killer leaving bodies in such buildings even more creepy. With the clock ticking, more elderly people disappearing and dying and a team of civilian and FBI working the case as they try to get ahead of and capture the killer they look for clues, research angles, try to save people, become frustrated with near misses and finally manage to put all the pieces together to determine who the culprit is. The drama was real. The locations well described and creepy. The killer intelligent, committed and methodical. Dogs superb. The characters well crafted. The camaraderie warm and believable. And...I REALLY enjoyed this book! This story brings back the sisters and their boyfriends as well as the FBI K-9 team with their human handlers and also introduces a new person or two that may show up in future books in the series. I would love to see find out more about Meg’s teammates Lauren and Scott as well as their dogs. I wonder if Chuck, Webb’s friend, will show up in future books. I also wonder if the introduction of the two new women will see them appearing in future cases. I am curious to see what will happen next with Meg and Webb as well as with Cara and McCord. This series has wonderful characters that work together and make me feel I am coming home each time I pick up the next book. I can’t wait to read book five as soon as it is written! Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the ARC – This is my honest review. 5 Stars