The Trapped Girl is the fourth novel in Robert Dugoni’s series featuring Seattle Detective Tracy Crosswhite. This one could easily be read on its own (not as part of the series), but I would recommend the entire series…events happen in the lives of the characters (especially Tracy) that affect subsequent storylines, and these are characters we come to know and care about, so trust me and start with My Sister’s Grave if you haven’t yet begun this series.

In this latest installment, a young man discovers a woman’s body submerged in a crab pot in the cold waters of Puget Sound. Tracy and her colleagues on the Seattle PD’s Violent Crimes Section have to first figure out who the victim is, then figure out who put her into the crab pot, and why. When the autopsy shows the victim has gone to great lengths (including extensive plastic surgery) to conceal her identity, Tracy knows she was running from someone or something.

Subsequently,evidence indicates the corpse may actually be the body of a woman who mysteriously disappeared some months earlier, and Tracy is once again haunted by the memory of her sister’s murder (featured in an earlier book in the series).

Clues start to appear that suggest a complex story involving “ brutal betrayal and desperate greed,” and Tracy once again becomes emotionally involved with the case of a murdered young woman.

I am a huge fan of Robert Dugoni’s series featuring Tracy Crosswhite. Each book in this series is a terrific thriller that will keep many readers guessing until the end. (I am not the best at figuring out the mystery before its reveal in contemporary mysteries and thrillers, so this may not be true for everyone, but it’s a great plot with outstanding character development. I give it five stars, with thanks to Thomas & Meercer and NetGalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.