Wow, this second installment of Tessa Wegert’s series was intense! Shana Merchant, a police detective out on leave, is trying to piece her life back together and work though PTSD after being held hostage by a serial killer. When a child goes missing in her district and a long buried body turns up in her hometown, the events feel too familiar and connected. This was a slow burn at the start but once it got going, I could not put this dark, twisty, police procedural down. The character development is excellent, as is the process of peeling back layers of the crimes, both past and present. Book three cannot come soon enough!

This book was OK. It was your typical mystery, who done it. For me it kind of dragged out a bit nothing really stood out all that much. The ending was excited but overall I don’t really think the book is for me.

Thank you to the publisher for a free copy of this book.
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I absolutely loved this follow up to A Death in the Family. I loved how Shana's past played a much bigger role in this book. Loved how we finally found out more about Bram. And I sure did love how this book ended. 

The writing was well done, as in book 1. The other characters were not as annoying and pretentious as in book 1. The pace for me felt better than book 1 too.

Overall this book was fantastic and I will be looking forward to the future installments of this series.

I'm a sucker for anything that says serial killer, so I knew I had to check this book out. I went into this book not knowing it was the second in a series. It didn't stop me from enjoying all the twists and turns though. I do think it would have been better if I had read the first book, but it gives you enough background so that it can be read alone and enjoyed if you haven't read it. I'll definitely go back to read the first one, thought it will be more like a flashback instead of not knowing who the abductor/killer is.

This book had a lot going on, but in a good way. There were a handful of characters in the MC's family and small town that were all caught up in the mess of what might have/happened to Shana's uncle. I loved watching the story unfold. I don't really think that there needed to be the abduction of the boy to have this story, but I know that is how Bram wanted to pull Shana back into his game.

I really enjoyed getting information from all the different characters and how each of them were currently doing, what grudges were being held, who was protecting who and who didn't know shit. All in all, it was a really well put together story with characters that were relevent, interesting and made you care about what had happened.

I can't wait to see what Tessa comes out with next. She is wonderful at pulling a story together while not giving away too much and making you care about the people involved.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for a copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

I thought that this was was just as great as the first book in the series. We dive even further into Shana's past as her Uncle who everyone assumed skipped town is found dead and has been dead all this time. We learn more about the trauma Shana went through before the events of the first book while also building more of a relationship between her partner tim and her. I always say, and I mean always go on about how character development for me is the most essential part to a police procedural series. You have to want to see these characters come back to solve more crime and I definitely can't wait to see what comes next!

The book also had a more pressing case of a missing boy taking place and it all linked together to the cold case of the murder of her uncle. It formed into one cohesive story that Shana and her team were able to solve both cases but left the infamous Bram still out in the world to cook up other ways to get to Shana.

The Shana Merchant mystery series is one my new favorites! I read the first book Death in the Family earlier this year and The Dead Season is book two and was released this week! If you like a good mystery, then you will want to pick these both up! Here are some mini reviews below.

You learn in the first book that Shana barely escaped being kidnapped by a serial killer… what! When her estranged uncle’s remains are discovered, she unfortunately must go home to solve the cold case and maybe solve her own kidnapping case. Her past comes flooding back as she interviews family members and realizes there was so much that she never knew. In a small town people are so interwoven that she knows the answers are all there along with her psychopath… because there is another kidnapping! And the ending is jaw dropping…

This is the second book in the Shana Merchant series and it starts just a couple of weeks after the first book ended. Right as she’s getting ready for her psych evaluation to decide whether she’s capable of going back to active duty or not, the discovery of her uncle’s body (who disappeared when she was a teen) brings her back to her hometown. When a little boy is kidnapped and she receives a few misterious notes, she realizes that her former kidnapper has plans for her. If she wants to find this kid, she needs to play along. 

As always, Tessa Wegert’s writing is great, and it turns out to be a very fast paced read, with many twists and turns. While I’m not sure I care much about Shana, I love we’re getting to know Tim a little bit more. He seems to be such a great person and investigator. Always patient, insightful and resourceful, he truly steals the scene as soon as he enters it. 

There were only 2 things I didn’t like and I can’t go into them here because of spoilers, but suffice it to say, it makes absolutely no sense that the police would ever agree NOT to share the identity of a perpetrator among the other investigators, when people keep turning up dead or injured. That just doesn’t add up and it made the book lose one star for me. 

But other than that, I loved the pace, the setting, I love how we keep learning more about the characters, and I will absolutely continue with the series! 4 stars!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book will make a lot more sense if you read the series in order (this is book 2). I didn't know this and spent a good chunk of my time flailing around, trying to figure out exactly what happened in the first book and how it  influenced the current mystery. 
I enjoyed the setting, having spent some time just across the border from "A Bay". It felt authentic. And cold.
There were two things that bothered me about the story. One. There was so much deception and so many incomplete stories and witness accounts I often found myself saying, "Would you just spit it out already?". And not just by suspects (I'm looking at you, Shana's parents). Two. Shana, the main character, a police detective, was apparently more concerned with protecting her family's reputation than finding an abducted child.
But despite all of my frustration, I think I now have a decent grasp on the backstory and will keep an eye out for the next book in the series. Especially since this one ended on a....

Following last year’s release of DEATH IN THE FAMILY, Tessa Wegert returns with THE DEAD SEASON, her second book featuring protagonist Shana Merchant, a bright and creative detective with a brutal past.

When readers last saw Shana, she had taken a detective job in Clayton, a sleepy upstate New York town, joined by her fiancé, a heralded psychologist. Along with fellow investigator Tim Wellington, Shana solved a locked-room case involving a highly dysfunctional wealthy family, a deserted island and, of course, murder. But Shana, who not long before barely survived an abduction by Blake Bram, a twisted serial killer, made several errors in her last case, all caused by her own PTSD and unexplored trauma. Since solving her first case in New York, she has taken leave from the force to dump her controlling fiancé and focus on her own healing. Unfortunately, her former abductor has other plans.

The Shana we meet at the start of THE DEAD SEASON is like a new woman in many ways: she no longer looks over her shoulder in fear, has stopped letting her ex control her, and is ready to approach the police force with a new esteem. She understands now that any failure on her part to be her best self can harm not only herself, but also her partner and, most importantly, any victims she sets out to help. Armed with therapy and a new round of self-defense courses, Shana is bracing herself for a return to the work she loves when she learns that a skeleton has been found in her hometown of Swanton, Vermont: her long-missing uncle.

Swanton is a complicated place. A small town fueled by gossip and rumors, it is where Shana’s face was scarred for life and where Bram was born and raised, right alongside a young Shana. Bram was never found after he killed the police officer looking for Shana and fled, but the fact that he left her alive means that he is not done toying with her. And despite her refusal to admit it, she knows exactly who he is.

As Shana returns to Swanton to help her family deal with the fallout of her uncle’s murder, a young boy named Trey goes missing from Clayton, dividing Shana’s focus between her hometown and her new home. When she finds a taped-up sign with her uncle’s photo juxtaposed against an image of the missing boy and the words “wanna play?” written on the back, she knows that Bram is back for her. Tim is leading the investigation into Trey’s whereabouts, and Shana must now convince him that the boy's disappearance is tied to her and her connection with Bram.

Wegert employs a Sherlock Holmes-like cat-and-mouse narrative, with Bram teasing Shana out of emotional retirement and setting her ability to solve the case of her uncle’s murder against his potential releasing of Trey. She knows there will be blood on her hands if she cannot solve both cases, but Swanton holds more secrets than just the identity of her uncle’s killer. With more of Shana’s past coming to light and her connection to Bram finally revealed, she embarks on a breakneck journey for the truth.

Once again, Wegert pens a deliciously twisty plot reminiscent of an Agatha Christie mystery. But where DEATH IN THE FAMILY was a perfect locked-room whodunit, THE DEAD SEASON delves much deeper into not only Shana’s background but also her overarching search for Bram. Unlike before, though, she is no longer focused only on hunting for him...she is now letting him hunt her. Wegert reveals Bram’s identity earlier than I had anticipated, but it is no less shocking or explosive, as it adds a whole new layer to Shana’s abduction. But with Bram’s kidnapping of Trey adding the potential for fresh blood to their cat-and-mouse game, the stakes are upped and the question of who is really after who becomes hazy. It is never quite clear who has the upper hand.

While THE DEAD SEASON was certainly compelling, and I feel that Shana’s character development will be essential to future installments, Wegert spreads herself a bit thin by stacking one mystery against another. A missing child is horrific in any situation, yet I found myself caring much more about Tessa’s murdered uncle, with the plot heavily weighted with details of his case rather than Trey’s. I loved learning more about Shana’s past and motivations, and Wegert’s handling of her PTSD was exemplary in its compassion. But as an author, Wegert is much stronger when her mystery is more focused and contained, as it was in DEATH IN THE FAMILY.

Though the cases were tied together by Bram, this chapter in Shana’s story felt more like a stepping stone to what promises to be an even more thrilling third installment, which I will be first in line to buy. Much like Bram, the world is nowhere near done with Shana Merchant, and I look forward to seeing where Wegert takes her next.

I think Tessa Wegert may be another auto buy author for me! I requested this book before realizing it was the second in a series so i read that one before this one so they’re both pretty fresh! I’m glad i read the first, first!

I think it’d be fine to read as a stand alone but i think the backstory is important and frankly they’re both great reads so just read both!

I loved the mystery in this. It was two cases she was trying to solve and figure out how they related and whether they did or not. I loved getting to know Shana more and diving more into her traumas and how it’s effected her life. You also learn more about bram and boy is he fascinating. In a twisted & scary way... but still haha! She just can’t escape him! And the details that come out about their connection, holy smokes! I did not see that coming!!

I did think this one started a bit slower than Death In The Family but once it picks up, it’s fast! I love all the twists and turns and there was some graphic scenes but not too bad!

All the pieces came together in the end for one case, and really had me a tad emotional at the conclusion as it was solved. Don’t want to give any spoilers but i definitely had some emotions at the end! And then...
A freakin cliff hanger!!! Omg. I usually don’t love cliff hangers because I’m impatient haha! But i am just dying to read the next book! I need to know where it goes!!

While I enjoyed Death In the Family more, I still found the second installment to the Shana Merchant series a fantastic read. The writing was again exemplary and character development very well done. I was hoping to learn more about Shana in this book and while I was hoping for more, I definitely respect the direction that Ms. Wegert is taking things. (I was expecting more of a backstory dump in this book, but when it wasn't there I deduced that she is going to be more deliberate in sprinkling more information as each book progresses.)

There were plenty of twists and turns that I found engaging and believeable. Believe-ability is my biggest pet peeve in thrillers and I have nothing but praise for this series when it comes to that. So many thrillers are filled with crazy twists that are so out of nowhere that it ruins an otherwise good book. There is no such problem here and I am thankful for that!

As for the plot, Shana is involved in solving not one, but two cases at once and reading about her attempt to solve both while under enormous emotional stress was highly engaging. I am so excited for the next book and I hope that we are awarded another one in 2021.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, Berkeley Books and Tessa Wegert for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review.

Publication Date: 12/08/2020
Review Date: 12/26/2020

This book was full of twists and turns. I will say that because this is the second book in the series I would read the first one before diving into this one. While it was really good and drew me in, there were some parts that would have made more sense if I had read the first book. Which I haven’t done. Overall, this book had me hooked from the very first chapter and I couldn’t get enough of it and I just had to know what happened. I wound up finishing this one in one day. This is a complete page turner and now I can’t wait to go and read the first one so I can really fill in some missing pieces! 

Shana is a detective that has suffered a trauma, she was kidnapped by a serial killer, drugged and held hostage for weeks.Only to have him get away and leave her stranded and drugged.As she is finally getting back to things, she finds out that her uncle, who they assumed had run away, was found and they suspected murder. Going home to help get some answers not only does she uncover dark secrets about her family but finds that there is a link between this murder and the serial killer that held her hostage. 

Thank you to #netgalley and #berkleypublishing for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this for my honest opinion!

Another bingeable read by Tessa Wegert!  I was excited when I heard Book 2 was releasing. After finishing the first in the series, Death in a Family and becoming obsessed with needing more of the main female lead, Shana Marchant, you better believe I jumped on the Dead Season train FAST!
I think I liked this one even more than the first because the author really dives deeper into Shana’s past and her character developed even further in this second book as the storyline focussed more on Shana’s past and this connection she might have with the man who abducted her all those years ago. 
I loved that there were two crimes being investigated simultaneously and enjoyed seeing how they were ultimately connected - bravo Tessa Wegert!
Of course this one ends with a cliff hanger, which I’m not mad about because that just means there’s a book 3 and I’m excited for it!!

How are things going for Shana Merchant since she solved a “closed-door” mystery at an imposing mansion on one of the Thousand Islands (Death in the Family)? Not so great. She still hasn’t been cleared to return to work. In the aftermath of an unauthorized shooting in the waning hours of her last case, she must pass a psychological profile before rejoining the Alexandria Bay police department. Shana is also actively avoiding her colleague Tim Wellington. Shana’s engagement falls apart after Death in the Family so her friend and mentor, Maureen “Mac” McIntyre offers her a couch to surf on. Mac is first-ever female sheriff in the history of New York State, sealing her status as a legend. Shana’s martial arts classes are about the only bright light in her life. Winter is coming to Alexandria Bay, NY, as evidenced by the cold winds whipping off Lake Ontario. Tessa Wegert’s descriptions of the mighty St. Lawrence, as seen through Shana’s eyes, are luminous.

I never fully understood the magnetic draw of natural beauty until I started calling the North Country home. Even desolate and cold, the river put me in a state of awe. With no other boats around to disturb its numinous splendor, the surface of the water was a lustrous, level plane.

Shana walks for hours along the deserted bank of the St. Lawrence River, steeling herself to face the memories of her kidnap and torture at the hands of Blake Bram. Although she escaped, the experience is never far from her mind.

And so, turning into the November wind, I welcomed him with open arms spread wide. Come on, asshole. Here I am.

 

It was late afternoon by the time I got back to Mac’s, which meant it was dark as a grave. A sickle moon lolled in the sky, and as I walked from the car to the house flakes of hard, dry snow bobbed in the air around me.

Unexpectedly, Shana hears from her parents that “the decades-old skeleton of Shana’s estranged uncle” has been discovered. Without getting permission, she abruptly takes off for Swanton, Vermont (she justifies her decision by parsing the facts: she isn’t back at work and is technically an independent operator?). Why not go home and solve the cold case? Almost on the heels of arriving home, Mac alerts her to a missing person case in Alexandria Bay. 

“Tim’s on it,” Mac assured me, “but you’re still my most senior investigator, so I want your take, too. Because you’re right. It’s bad. A kid’s gone missing, nine-year-old boy by the name of Trey Hayes.” She took a breath and rattled off the details. Local. African American. Brown hair and eyes. Small for his age. “Real cutie,” she said sadly. “Last seen about two hours ago on a field trip to Boldt Island.”

Shana’s on the road again, a 3 hr 22 min (170.6 mile) trip, one way. Back in Alexandria Bay, Shana goes into a “kitschy” gift shop to look for a birthday card for Mac, anything to pass the time, when she notices a new poster with two photos, side by side on the bulletin board near the register. Photos of Shana’s dead Uncle Brett and Trey Hayes: “the kid was smiling, but barely, as if someone was forcing him to. The look in his eyes was pure terror.” Shana takes the poster down and turns it over. There’s a handwritten message: “Wanna play?” Shana knows immediately who kidnapped the boy and almost welcomes the confrontation. She pleads with the locals to play it her way, with mixed success.  Good news: the police don’t find a dead body. Bad news: they find the little boy’s hat covered with blood. 

“Get an evidence bag,” said Tim, his voice cold as he reached for the blood-soaked Purple Pirates baseball hat, sticky and black in the half-light.

Time for a Big Reveal aka Massive Spoiler: Shana knows who her erstwhile abductor, serial killer Blake Bram, is. 

All the stories my kidnapper told me in the cellar beneath an apartment building in the cellar beneath an apartment building in the East Village were about his childhood. They were also about mine. I didn’t need to dust off old yearbooks to ID him. No rifling through the memory bank for me. The man who murdered three women and a young cop, the guy who drugged me at an Irish pub, was my equal. We shared the same hometown, the same childhood experiences, even the same DNA. With every bone in my body I wished it wasn’t so, but that didn’t change the facts, and denial wouldn’t erase the truth. He was the troubled kid on my mother’s side who ran away at the age of sixteen. Blake Bram was Abe, my childhood companion.

 

My cousin.

 

My friend.

Also Trey’s kidnapper. Abe and Shana were close in childhood and adolescence. They had so much in common like their obsession with Scully and Mulder. Things fell apart when it became clear that Abe was mentally troubled, perhaps even sociopathic. The tension climaxed in a dreadful confrontation that left Shana with a wicked facial scar (courtesy of a rusty nail wielded by her cousin). I’ll go out on a crime-solving limb and say Shana should have told her fellow investigators. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where that’s not the right thing to do. But that’s not how Shana sees it. 

My plan had been simple: I would show Bram my cards. Make it easy for him to find me, and keep him focused on me alone. It went against both my principles as an investigator and my police training, but for more than a year, I’d kept his identity a secret from everyone. I didn’t do it for Abe. I was appalled and revolted and deeply ashamed, but more than that, I knew revealing what had become of him to my family would leave them with agonizing questions to which I had no answers yet. As for Mac and Tim, the more they knew about Bram, the less control I had over my pursuit. And I had to get to Bram first.

Abe’s message, “Wanna play?” is crystal clear to Shana. If the citizens of Alexandria Bay ever hope to see Trey alive again, Shana must solve the puzzle of who murdered her Uncle Brett (Abe’s father). Back to Swanton. As the clues rachet up, Shana is joined by Tim in Vermont. 

The Dead Season is a gripping thriller that pits a cold case against the plight of a hapless child with Shana Merchant the key to solving both crimes.

The Dead Season is the second book in the Shana Merchant series. I loved the first book, Death in The Family, which left me with some lingering questions surrounding Shana's past and tormentor, who held her captive.

The Dead Season picks up three weeks after the events from Death in the Family. Shana is suspended from duty and is in therapy for PTSD. She is now drawn into two crimes that she has a personal connection to and is forced to play a cat and mouse game with her tormentor.

The Dead Season combines a small-town mystery with an upstate New York kidnapping of a child and a family drama. What's a small-town mystery without some family secrets and drama involved. The family drama to this one is shocking and not what I expected, and the tension in the story rises, the more we get to know about Shana's family secrets. While the kidnapping of a child is always disturbing Tessa Wegert keeps it lighter and focuses on Shana and her abductor Bram and those lingering questions I had are answered.

The pacing is slow at first as Tessa Wegert sets up the mysteries for us and then the action picks ups and I was turning the pages as fast as I could. While this one is not a thrilling and chilling dark read it's a suspenseful and tension-filled satisfying read and Tessa Wegert sure knows how to set us up for the next one and I look forward to reading it.

I'm officially obsessed with Tessa Wegert books!

A Death in the Family was fantastic, and in THE DEAD SEASON, Shana Merchant is back… and this time the murder hits close to home.⁣
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As in - miles from her home.⁣
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As in - her own family.⁣
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After being abducted by a serial killer and then that crazy murder island investigation … she’s now trying to solve the murder of her own uncle. And that serial killer?? Is he somehow involved? Does her past have something to do with this all?⁣
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Shana Merchant is such a fantastic character. These books grab your attention, hook you right in, leave you breathless and wanting more. The Dead Season kept me guessing just like Death in the Family did.. and I again, didn’t figure anything out! Foiled again - in the best way! ⁣
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A must read. 👏🏻⁣

With an Agatha Christie-like atmosphere, Tessa Wegert’s debut thriller Death in the Family was a hit and introduced an exciting and fascinating, but still very relatable new State Police Detective in Shana Merchant. Picking up mere weeks after the events of Death in the Family, Wegert brings Detective Merchant back for a thrilling new adventure that combines a brand new case and a close-to-home cold case in The Dead Season.

Detective Merchant is still dealing with the fall-out of the events in Death in the Family. The end of her relationship means she doesn’t really have a place of her own, so she’s staying with a friend and fellow officer. Her reactions to stress during the intense circumstances of her previous case have left her temporarily suspended, pending counselling (which she has been faithfully completing) and a psychological evaluation, which is just days away. She and her police partner Tim have also not quite found their footing with each other. They both learned a great deal about each other working the previous case, including correcting some misinformation that each had been given about the other, but neither is quite sure where they stand, not knowing how Merchant’s suspension will play out.

While trying to work through all of these issues, get through her evaluation, and get reinstated, Merchant’s past suddenly takes center stage. Bones are found that are believed to be related to someone from her extended family, and then someone from her past reappears in her life, as she both knew and dreaded that he someday would. This sets off a fast-paced cat-and-mouse game as Shana must decide how many of the secrets of her past she will need to reveal to Tim and her other law enforcement colleagues as they try to end a serial killer’s deadly game before anyone else get hurt – or worse.  

Wegert keeps the action going with excellent pacing throughout the story. We meet a lot of the characters from Merchant’s past and they are all well-developed, very real seeming characters with their own stories, issues, and backgrounds. Through her interactions with them, we get an even more in-depth picture of just who Shana Merchant is, not just as a detective, but as a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a niece, a friend, and more.

Many of the events and people from Shana Merchant’s past that were only briefly referenced or alluded to in Death in the Family reappear here and we are able to put these things into the context of Merchant’s life. But just as she brilliantly did before, Wegert withholds some things – she keeps us wanting more. She leaves tantalising breadcrumbs (hopefully) leading to our next thrill-ride with Detective Merchant.

✨You guys, I devoured this book! Actually, I went back and devoured book one before I read this one! It can be read as a stand alone, but I was able to gain more insight by reading the first. 
Shana’s past seems to haunt her no matter how much she tries to get away from  it. Her past and present collide when she starts to investigate a kidnapping and an unsuspected 20 year old case involving a family member. There were so many secrets to unravel with her family and hometown, that this book definitely kept me on my toes! And that cliffhanger @tessawegert!! 😱 I’m ready for the next one! 
Thank you for my copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own

I was really hoping for another 5 star Shana Merchant read, but for me this one just wasn't as enjoyable as the first. I'll be the first to admit that my rating is completely subjective, and mostly due to personal preference. The writing is once again excellent, but I think I was more drawn to the locked room, Agatha Christie-esque nature of Death in the Family than the family drama presented in book two. The pacing in the first half of the book was on the slow side, but once we were able to break the half way point, things sped up and I found the mysteries at hand to be both engaging and enjoyable. Also, for those who enjoy listening, the narrator was wonderful and really added a level of commitment from me as a reader. While this wasn't my favorite in the series so far, I love what Wegert has done with these characters and I will definitely be in for the third installment.

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie

This is the second mystery in the intense Shana Merchant series; it is written with excellence. The descriptions of where Shana grew up in Swanton, Vermont and her new home in the Thousand Islands of New York are rich, adding color and texture to late November days. It was fascinating to get to know Shana, Mac, and Tim better than in the first novel, and spend time with Shana’s family and friends in Vermont. The mystery was exciting at times, and shocking at others. This series should definitely be read in order, as each novel builds on the one prior.

Shana has been on suspension following her first major case in Alexandria Bay. Tim is her second in command at the A-Bay state police station. Due to reactions to circumstances encountered, she had to see a state appointed therapist, and in a few days will be evaluated to see if she is ready to return to duty. Her parents call her with bad news; her uncle Brett, husband to her mom’s sister Felicia and had left her and moved to Philadelphia twenty years earlier, had been found. Well, his remains were, due to an anonymous tip called in to the Swanton police. They made a tentative identification and determined he had been murdered. Shana drove home to be with her parents, as there had once been many rocky times with Felicia, Brett, and their children.

Shana was barely at her parents’ home when she learned that a nine-year-old boy went missing from Heart Island where his school had been on an outing. Even though she is on suspension, Shana returned to A-Bay to see if she could help from the sidelines. The clues there send her back to Vermont. A nightmare from her past has returned yet again, a living nightmare that will not let her go. It will only be in finding the truth of her uncle’s murder that they might be able to save the little boy who disappeared. Yet the secret she may have to expose would harm all she loves and forever cost her career.

I enjoyed seeing Shana again, despite walking through some of the horrors of her past that effect her present and future. She is very well characterized, especially through the haunting memories. The family dynamics, especially with her aunt and cousin, add to the drama. Each relevant character is designed carefully and defined well. I also enjoyed getting to know Mac and Tim better than before; Tim has proven to be a much better person and investigator than originally thought. I enjoyed meeting Shana’s best friend from school and seeing them pick up their relationship again, as well as Shana’s regrets for her shortcomings in the relationships of her past.

The mystery is complex and involves much more than the missing boy or her murdered uncle. Shana will learn just how much she can trust Mac and Tim, and ultimately herself as she works through the effects of PTSD and takes her karate classes more seriously than ever. While Shana assumes who is behind the boy’s disappearance, the suspects for her uncle’s murder increase as she learns more about his final months in Swanton.  The suspense climbs with each plot twist and turn so that it is hard to put the book down! I admit that I was not able to guess who the murderer was and was stunned at the resolution! The end is satisfactory, leaving open only one thing – the location of the Blake Bram, the man who not only abducted and tormented Shana when she was with NYPD over a year ago but plays into her cases since. The novels should be read in order as they build on each other. I highly recommend The Dead Season and its predecessor, Death in the Family.