Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Don't Lose Her by Jonathon King

The first book in the Max Freeman series by former journalist Jonathon King, The Blue Edge of Midnight (Dutton, 2002), won the 2003 Edgar Award for Best First Novel and was shortlisted for the Anthony Award for Best First Novel, the Barry Award for Best First Novel, and the Macavity Award for Best First Novel. It introduced Freeman as an ex-cop fleeing from the memory of shooting a child by accident and hiding from everyone but his conscience on the edge of the Florida Everglades. The seventh and apparently last book in the series is Don’t Lose Her (Open Road, 2015).

Diane Manchester, a Federal judge and eight months pregnant, is forced into a van as she walks down the street in Palm Beach, on break from the courtroom where she is presiding over an extradition case involving a Colombian drug lord. Her terrified husband Billy calls in Freeman, who conducts investigations for Billy’s law practice. Freeman launches his own search, leaving the obvious avenues to the FBI and believing the defendant of the judge’s current case is behind her kidnapping. His first stop is at Billy’s bank, where he retrieves $100,000 in cash to use as bribes for informants who won’t talk to the FBI. His hunt takes him into the underside of southern Florida society, where poverty and drug addiction and those that exploit its victims are the norm.

Three story lines offer multiple perspectives on the action-- Freeman, the judge, and a young woman pulled into the crime -- and then converge in the heart of the Everglades. A fast-moving, intense thriller with a strong sense of place and a suspense-filled finale. The descriptive passages about the Everglades are striking. It’s clear King knows this region well. Highly recommended.

 

·                     Publisher: Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller (June 2, 2015)

·                     Language: English

·                     Paperback: 262 pages

·                     ISBN-10: 1504001656

·                     ISBN-13: 978-1504001656 

 

Aubrey Hamilton ©2021 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.