In the early hours of a summer day in Seattle, a teenager out to make a little extra money by illegally crabbing manages to net more than he bargained for – much more. Instead of crabs in his cages, he pulls up the body of a young woman.  How she got there isn’t clear but what is is that it wasn’t an accident, she was murdered.  Enter Tracy Crosswhite , who is fast becoming one of my favourite female detectives.

Tracy is a great character.  She’s tough but not hard, loved by her team and by her boyfriend Dan (who unfortunately I didn’t get as much of as I would have liked in this outing).  She’s also got history that means she starts to feel connected for the woman she thinks has been found and the life she lived.  Like Tracy (who lost her sister 20 years previously) the dead woman’s life has been touched by tragedy, nothing it seems has gone right for her.

I said “thinks” and “seems” because, determined to find out what happened to the young woman, the more Tracy digs the more confused she (and you as a reader becomes).  Nothing is as it seems.  For Tracy, it’s frustrating, especially when her path is blocked by a neighbouring police force who believe they have jurisdiction and a boss who can’t be bothered to fight for her.  For me, as a reader, I loved the confusion.  I really didn’t know where the story would take me next as it took one twist after another.

And, unlike other books I have read, where the twists sometimes just seem to be there for the sake of it, here every one made me go “of course” and nod my head knowingly as if it had been obvious from the beginning (when, of course, it hadn’t been at all).  The whole story was really cleverly plotted, with nothing rushed, and right until the end I was convinced it would end one way, only to find out I had been completely wrong all along…brilliant!

Liking and rooting for Tracy is an obvious plus and selling point for me in this series but, in this book, it was also nice was getting to know her team more than I have in any other story – her partner, Kins, already felt pretty solid and well rounded to me but, here, I also got to properly meet the two other members of her team (or family as they call themselves), Del and Faz.  They are great characters, full of life and personality and good cops in their own right. I want more in the next book as they make a great team.

And I do hope there is a next book as, for me, this series is just getting better and better with each book.  It says something that, after only discovering it last year thanks to a review on bibliophile book club, I have read every book in the series.  Not only do they have the great characters I have mentioned but they are great stories, well written with twists and turns a plenty and a real sense of place – I want to visit Seattle now despite the death count.  I can’t recommend them highly enough (and for those who don’t want to go back to the beginning, don’t worry they can be read as standalone I think) – loved this book!

Yes! Finally! In this book, Mr. Dugoni and his leading lady Tracy Crosswhite finally break through! The case is based in Seattle and is a current case. While following the clues does take Tracy out of town, this case is in stark contrast to the previous cases where she basically left her current unit to work it or was dealing with a cold case, especially her own sister's murder. Speaking of which, finally Tracy seems to have come out of the shadow and in to her own a bit. She still feels empathy and identifies with her cases but it is for herself and not for her long dead sister. This change makes a big difference in the feel of the story line, a great difference! It was wonderful reading how Tracy was looking forward instead of backwards. This installment is a terrific reward for not giving up when she was obsessed with her sister's murder! Well worth the wait!

Robert Dugoni is quickly becoming one of my go-to authors for a suspenseful, twisty read.  I adored My Sister's Grave and continued to enjoy the next two books in the series, (Her Final Breath and In the Clearing).  With The Trapped Girl, the fourth book in the Tracy Crosswhite series, Dugoni once again gives his readers a non-stop story filled with suspense, tension and twists.  He had me captivated throughout and while I had several ideas of who the culprit could be, by the time Dugoni finished weaving his web, he ended up surprising even this seasoned reader.

Tracy continues to be a strong main character.  She's tough yet likable and has her flaws.  A gaggle of fellow detectives and Tracy's boyfriend round out the cast.  I'd suggest reading this series in order so that you understand where Tracy's past which continues to haunt her.  While her personal life plays a role in this book and I liked its inclusion, I'm glad it stayed in the fringes of the story to keep the tension high.

This is a well-crafted suspense read.  It's complicated without being fussy or confusing as Dugoni leads his readers through his plot leading up to a very satisfying, nail-biting conclusion. If you're in the mood for lots of twists, suspense and some solid characters you must pick up the Tracy Crosswhite series.

Highly recommended for fans of Lisa Gardner and Harlan Coben.

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Thomas and Mercer for providing me with a complimentary e-book copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I have read the previous Tracy Crosswhite novels so I expected a first rate thriller and I was not disappointed. The book opens with the discovery of a girl’s body trapped in a crab pot and the attempts to identify the body and apprehend the killer. As it unfolds we learn of a girl trapped in an abusive relationship and in a life she didn’t want and couldn’t cope with. What a great story, with so many misdirections, it is only in the last chapters that the real killer and motives are revealed.

First, I would like to express my thanks to Thomas and Mercer Books, NetGalley and the author who provided a digital copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
Robert Dugoni is on a very hot roll currently.  However, Dugoni is, also, IMHO at, or very near, the top of his game, too.  I am currently reading the Tracy White police procedural/legal thriller series.  The Trapped Girl is book four in this series, and the writing and the stories just seem to get better and better.  I really enjoy this series, and this definitely was my favorite in the series.  I have not read book three, yet.  We can only hope that he is not having his “Dylanesque” peak anytime soon.  Let the songs keep coming.
Kurt Schill, a Seattle teenager, is out trying to make a few extra bucks illegally in the wee hours by poaching crabs.  He goes out into the fog and darkness and drops his crab pots, and then returns to get them, hopefully full.  This all works fine and dandy until one night he has the one-in-a-million misfortune to pull out a very heavy pot, and it don’t look like any crabs are in this pot.  Schill resigns himself to calling in the found body even though he is breaking the law.  Tracy Crosswhite, Seattle major crimes unit, is the quick to respond.  The first order of business will be to identify the victim which turns out to be extremely difficult and very time-consuming, along with a couple of other things that are better left unsaid if one has not read the book yet.
The usual cast of quirky detectives are present: Del Castigliano, Vic “Fazz” Fazzio, Kinnsington “Kins” Rowe, and Tracy in the pit, or the crew.  Del and Fazz cover the bases of the paper trails and background work with people.  Kins and Tracy chase down and speak with suspects, persons of interest, and people familiar with these people.  And, they, especially Tracy, report directly to Captain Johnny Nolasco, and their working relationship lacks a lot to be desired.  Dugoni seems to maximize the amount of interest that the reader can garner without going too far, a not so easy accomplishment IMHO.
Graham and Andrea Strickland are a couple with a troubled marriage.  Graham leases a Porsche and is a lawyer.  He wants the best of everything with sugar on top, but he really does not want to have to work for it.  That’s so, so yesterday.  He is better at spending money that making money, he is greedy, lazy, unfaithful, and dishonest.  Other than that, I guess that he is okay.  His wife is Andrea.  She is a very quiet, demur and a predictable creature of habit.  She has a job helping a friend, but she is not a very sociable person.  She has stack upon stack of books, and she devours books quickly.  She only wants to read and hike.  Anyway, somehow they are involved in the crab pot case.
Once again, Robert Dugoni’s writing is off the charts crazy.  Police procedurals are not supposed to be like this?  Legal thrillers are seldom this exciting.  Dugoni’s creativity and original ideas and his ability to advance them with story and plot and characters is definitely something to keep in the back of your mind while reading The Trapped Girl, or any other book in the Tracy Crosswhite series.  Dugoni is quickly becoming one of my favorite go-to authors.  The Trapped Girl tops this list.  I would have no problem recommending this book to anyone, regardless of what they read.  This is a 5-star.

Cam

This book was very interesting  and  I enjoyed  it immensely !  
I love this series, and enjoy this author

I will start off saying I read the first book in this series but have not read any others until this book. You do not need to read the other books to read this book, it might be better if you do, I'm not sure but you can read this as a stand alone. I thought this was a good mystery book. I did figure out early on somethings but I happily didn't figure everything out until I was told in the book. My biggest complaint is the filler sentences that really need to be taken out as they don't need to be in there. An example is "He dipped his french fry in ketchup then put it in his mouth", this sentence did not need to be in the book, it's not the unabridged book, take the dumb sentences out. Besides that the book was really good and the mystery was well planned out.

Intricate  plotting and well developed characters have made this a "not miss" series for me. This 4th book featuring Detective Tracy Crosswhite and her team was an excellent police procedural. 

I really like the way this author writes. Including the weather and other details about the Seattle area and surrounding towns provides a great backdrop for the story. He has a way of being able to guide the reader along in the investigation, creating the right amount of tension and enough distraction to keep you guessing. Although I'd figured out some things, I was caught up in the mystery and wanted the answers just as much as Tracy.

I definitely will be first in line when book #5 appears on my radar. Recommend this series and encourage you to read it in order to get the full picture of Tracy and watch the changes that give her new dimension in every book. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the e-book ARC to review.

Great continuation of Tracy cross white this one kept me guessing the whole time.  Never would have thought that would be the outcome. Loved it.

The Trapped Girl is the fourth addition to the Tracy Crosswhite series by Robert Dugoni. This novel kicks off with the grisly discovery of a woman's body stuffed inside a crab pot. Initially, Tracy and her team think they just closed a missing person's case from Portland. However as they dig deeper, they realize there is a lot more to the story than what meets the eye. 
This novel is unique in that typically we have two cases per novel, one with the main focal point and another that seems to just fall into place either with their current investigation or just something for the other detectives to focus on while Tracy does her own thing. This time around we really only have one case with several different strings attached, and it really gets the whole team involved, which I really enjoyed. The investigation took many twists and turns, and the outcome was pretty unexpected on my part.  
Tracy's personal life has quite a bit of growth in this novel, as well.  Her relationship is in full bloom, and she has the personal revelation that maybe she takes some cases too personally. That personal attachment, while exhausting emotionally, is what makes Tracy so good at what she does.  
Yet again this is another exceptional read in a wonderful series that I anticipate each and every new release for.

Another great entry in the Tracy Crosswhite series. This is the second Tracy Crosswhite novel I've read and I can't wait to catch up on the two I've missed. Kept me guessing to the very end... great characters, believable plot and well paced.

This is my first entry into the Tracy Crosswhite series by this author and though I try to avoid jumping into a series in the middle, it's written in a way that invites newbies like myself into this world.  While I assume all of the characters have existed and evolved together since book one, there is a nice organic summary of all I would need to really know about each of them to catch me up.  I enjoyed the characters, even though several fell into the classic cop story archetypes.  The hook of this story is what pulled me in--a kid pulling in his crab pot from Puget Sound finds a woman's body inside it.  From that opening chapter, the story takes off...but then it soon slows to a crawl, and it follows that pattern throughout.  There were times I found myself flying through chapters, and others that quite literally put me to sleep.  The narrative is primarily from Tracy's point of view, but then we're also treated to a handful of chapters written by the assumed victim--a choice that I still don't quite understand or agree with because it wasn't consistent and those chapters only really provided more characterization and background on the victim and suspect(s).  They felt like tacked on chapters born from an editor complaining about character development or motives; they just didn't feel organic to the story nor did they flow properly into or out of Tracy's chapters.
Where this book really fell apart for me though was in the final whodunnit and why climax.  It was just patently ridiculous.  I felt like there was so much promise with the case set up but at the end of the day, the story just couldn't pay off on such a cool set up.
Should I find myself with copies of the previous Crosswhite titles, I think I'll still check them out.  While this book didn't entirely leave me satisfied, the main characters were interesting enough to continue reading about.

This is the fourth book in the Tracy Crosswhite series and it had alot to live up to, as the first three books were incredible.  It did not disappoint!  The story grabbed my attention from page one and kept it till the amazing twist at the end. A twist I never even once suspected.  In the female detective genre of fiction,  Tracy Crosswhite has joined the ranks of the great Eve Dallas,  Jayne Rizzoli and Lindsey Boxer, .I have found another author to add to my top ten list!

Would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a mystery.

When a woman’s body is found stuffed into a crab pot in the Puget Sound, Detective Tracy Crosswhite must first figure out who the victim is before she can begin to figure out who murdered her. As she works the case with her colleagues they realize the woman may have gone to great lengths to alter her appearance – who was she hiding from? Did they find her? Along the way Tracy is haunted by the memory of her sister’s disappearance and unsolved murder. This is the 4th installment of the Tracy Crosswhite series, I have read the first two and missed out on the third somehow (will have to remedy that fast!). This novel was a compelling, fast paced and twisty turny police procedural with just enough personal character development that you felt invested in the characters. I am a big fan of series because I truly enjoy getting to know the characters and where they come from, which is not always possible in a standalone. Although I think you will get much more out of it having read the beginning of the series, I don’t think you’d be completely lost jumping in with both feet on book 4.

If you are a fan of police procedurals where just when you think you have it figured out you’re turned upside down, then get this on your “to be bought” list for his February release!

Thanks to Net Galley, Thomas & Mercer and Robert Dugoni for an ARC of this in exchange for my honest review.

A woman’s body is found trapped in a crab trap in the waters of the Puget Sound.  Detective Tracy Crosswhite and her colleagues first have to figure out who the victim is.  When the victim is ID’d, they start discovering another spiral of lies and untruths.  Jane Doe went to a lot of trouble to hide and start over a new life away from certain people.  Why?  What or who was she running from?  Will Tracy and her team be able to put the pieces together before this killer strikes again?
 
This is the first book I have read in this series and was very pleasantly surprised.  I do feel like details given in this book would probably spoil the first few books in the series, but I still plan to read them anyway.  I loved the characterization of the people that were working in the police office.  Dugoni did a masterful job in bringing them all to life and providing you such a clear picture, that you could run up to Seattle and see them on the street.  You had the team members who were doing everything they could to solve a crime.  You had the boss every one hates that they tried to work around.  Then you had the sleezeball detective from the other force Tracy was forced to work with.  I loved the fact that even though Tracy has dealt with so much tragedy, she is able to still open herself up to the possibility of love and family. 
 
The best thing about the book is definitely the characterization.  Everyone felt believable and you felt like you understood the inner workings in their mind.  Also, this one really messes with your mind a bit.  I have to say that I fingered everyone for this crime and was still wrong at the end.  Lots of twists and turns.  Gave it a 4 out of 5.  Great read and thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Truly a great read!!! Well written, no word fluff, and characters well fleshed out and engaging. An author that I look forward to reading more from!

I really enjoyed this book. The mysteries were complicated, and the secrets everyone had seemed to grow and have their own power. I love how the ending was sudden and tied up all the ends that seemed unexpected. Dugoni did an wonderful job creating his plot and characters. A part of me kept wondering if it was all real!

When a body is found in a crab pot in Puget Sound, Detective Tracy Crosswhite has to first identify the body. Facial implants lead to a name, and her picture leads to a person who disappeared several months earlier.
I have not read earlier books which didn't seem a problem, and we were told some of the history of Crosswhite which I found distracted from the plot, and didn't find at all interesting.
For me this was a rating between a 2 and 3.

Each book hooks you deeper into the series with Tracy Crosswhite! I'm happy to read the 4th book in this series. Tracy's character is really depending and becoming so much more real. Connecting to her is getting so easy now! I think it's partly because of what the author did, and partly because by now we have "known her" long enough to be serious about her and her world. 

Tracy had my attention in book one, but now, I just can't wait for the next installment. Well done indeed! So, this body, chomped up on by crabs and fish washes up and the facial implants lead Tracy and her team to figure out who she was. Now we just need the why, and catch the killer. Go Tracy! We are rooting you and author Robert Dugoni onward to new novels. 

My copy came from Net Galley. I wasn't required to leave a review. I do so of my own free volition and I'm really happy to be able to do so. My thoughts and opinions are all my own.