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This is the second novel in the author’s series about a small-town Iowa newspaper reporter who gets involved in big stories that manage to embroil him in dangerous, even life-threatening situations. This one uncovers horrific activity going on all over the Midwest, and it not only puts the reporter in harm’s way but also some of the people he cares for the most.
Tony is on the rebound from winning a Pulitzer Prize but losing the woman he loved. While trying to come to grips with that loss, he is plunged into a horrendous tale of underage sex trafficking from no less than one of its victims. As he struggles to help a single individual survive, he is drawn deeper and deeper into a world of missing girls, murder, prostitution, and more. His zealotry to save young people forced into sexual slave labor soon overrides his professional journalistic judgment, and he finds himself knee-deep in undercover operations, FBI stings, and particularly perilous behavior that threaten both his friends and family members. Before this tale has run its course, contemptible individuals as vile as they are violent will test Tony’s capacity for conviction and courage.
Author LeValley skillfully weaves an intricate and involving tale even as he keeps his foot planted firmly on the accelerator. His narrative pauses only occasionally to provide proper backstories on primary players, yet never at the expense of reader engagement. Psychological as well as physical descriptions of the people populating his pages add an aura of intimacy to character development and behavior. This is fiction based unfortunately on a very real problem. As such, it’s both entertaining and important.