In the Clearing by Robert Dugoni --> Starting August 10th, 2020

[Aly]

Detective Tracy Crosswhite has a skill, and a soft spot, for tackling unsolved crimes. Having lost her own sister to murder at a young age, Tracy has dedicated her career to bringing justice and closure to the families and friends of victims of crime.

So when Jenny, a former police academy classmate and protégé, asks Tracy to help solve a cold case that involves the suspicious suicide of a Native American high school girl forty years earlier, Tracy agrees. Following up on evidence Jenny’s detective father collected when he was the investigating deputy, Tracy probes one small town’s memory and finds dark, well-concealed secrets hidden within the community’s fabric. Can Tracy uphold the promise she’s made to the dead girl’s family and deliver the truth of what happened to their daughter? Or will she become the next victim?

[Vicki]

Through Chapter 10

It's good to have so many familiar characters!

I like the time frames of 1976 and 2016, which makes it interesting.

Angela (view spoiler)[seems like there's a lot more to her than I first thought. If she was abused badly, I understand why she would've shot him or if she thought her son was in danger. (hide spoiler)]

Connor (view spoiler)[it would be horrible to live with knowing that you killed your own father no matter why, so I really hope he didn't do it. (hide spoiler)]

I'm not to terribly invested in the (view spoiler)[Kimi case just yet. But I never have been too interested in cold cases. Although they say it's "kind of a cold case" and I guess I don't know the difference. LOL

Kimi (view spoiler)[I feel for her parents, Earl and Nettie, and her brother Elan. I hope none of them had anything to do with her disappearance, but there's nothing to suggest that right now anyway. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

Through Chapter 20

And the plot thickens!

I makes sense to me that Kimi (view spoiler)[ didn't kill herself but was murdered, whether or not intentional. It seems like with the evidence that Rosa presents that she was likely run down and chased, maybe by The Four Ironmen. (hide spoiler)]

I think that (view spoiler)[ being a forensic crime scene analyst would be so very interesting! (hide spoiler)]

Tommy (view spoiler)[sounds like a jerk to me. He tried to make Kimi jealous, that didn't work, so I think he and maybe the Four Ironmen were together and killed Kimi, or at least chased her down and ran her over. I think one of them carried her to the river and dumped her in. Poor girl, only 17. (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

Through Chapter 30

(view spoiler)[So now we know what happened to poor Kimi. We now have 2 of the 4 men who have committed suicide, right? That kind of burden and subsequent nightmares would cause any decent person to fall apart. (hide spoiler)]

I am wondering whatever happened to (view spoiler)[the investigation about Angela and Connor Collins and their husband/dad. Both confessed but either I read right over that or nothing else was said. I recall Mark Collins, Timmy's brother, being talked with but what after that? (hide spoiler)]

I'll add my final comments either tonight late and after I take a little rest or tomorrow. I'm just really tired right now.

[Vicki]

Final Comments

I don't know about you, but I felt like a lot more time was put in to the (view spoiler)[Kimi case. I began thinking it would be more of the 2016 case with Angela and Connor, but I finally see how the two come together. It's the "lesson" learned about how some parents will hurt their own children sometimes. Eric's dad by his never telling him the truth, thus freeing Eric of all that guilt; Connor's mother by intending to let him take the blame for her husband's murder...OMG! (hide spoiler)]