Book ~ "Deception Cove" (2019) Owen Laukkanen

From Goodreads ~ Former US Marine Jess Winslow reenters civilian life a new widow, with little more to her name than a falling-down house, a medical discharge for PTSD and a loyal dog named Lucy. The only thing she actually cares about is that dog, a black-and-white pit bull mix who helps her cope with the devastating memories of her time in Afghanistan.

After fifteen years - nearly half his life - in state prison, Mason Burke owns one set of clothes, a wallet and a photo of Lucy, the service dog he trained while behind bars. Seeking a fresh start, he sets out for Deception Cove, Washington, where the dog now lives.

As soon as Mason knocks on Jess's door, he finds himself in the middle of a standoff between the widow and the deputy county sheriff. When Jess's late husband piloted his final "fishing" expedition, he stole and stashed a valuable package from his drug dealer associates. Now the package is gone, and the sheriff's department has seized Jess's dearest possession - her dog. Unless Jess turns over the missing goods, Lucy will be destroyed.

The last thing Mason wants is to be dragged back into the criminal world. The last thing Jess wants is to trust a stranger. But neither of them can leave a friend, the only good thing in either of their lives, in danger. To rescue Lucy, they'll have to forge an uneasy alliance. And to avoid becoming collateral damage in someone else's private war, they have to fight back - and find a way to conquer their doubts and fears.

Mason Burke has spent the last fifteen years in prison in Michigan for committing murder.  Towards the end of his sentence, he was put in a program to train dogs.  Lucy, the dog he was assigned, was scared and timid when she arrived at the prison but became a great therapy dog six months later.

Lucy was given to Jess, a Marine veteran, who keeps reliving her time in Afghanistan, seeing her best friend get killed.  When Jess arrived home in Washington, she has PTSD and is a widow (her husband, Ty, had gotten drunk and drowned while she was away).  All she has left is the rundown house and Lucy.

The local deputy was involved in a scheme ... and Ty had stolen some drugs from him.  The deputy thinks Jess knows where Ty had hidden the drugs before he died.  With his life on the line, he does all he can to pressure Jesse for the information and even takes her dog from her, promising to kill Lucy.

When Mason is released from prison, he just wants to make sure that Lucy is okay and in a good home before he can start his new life.  When he hears that she is about to be put down for attacking a police officer, he heads to Washington to do all he can to save Lucy ... and gets himself involved in trying to save Jess' life too.

I've read many books by this author and have liked them ... though I tried to like this one, I couldn't get into it.  I enjoy reading books about and with dogs so was cheering for Lucy and that's what kept me reading.  Maybe I didn't find the story interesting?  I didn't find myself drawn to the characters and didn't find them overly believable.  As I was reading, I found myself hearing them talk and act like backwood hicks out of a bad movie.

It's written in third person perspective with a focus on the various characters.  As a head's up, there is swearing.

Book ~ "The Forgotten Girls" (2017) Owen Laukkanen

From Goodreads ~ She was a forgotten girl, a runaway found murdered on the High Line train through the northern Rocky Mountains and, with little local interest, put into a dead file. But she was not alone. When Kirk Stevens and Carla Windermere of the joint FBI-BCA violent crime force stumble upon the case, they discover a horror far greater than anyone expected - a string of murders on the High Line, all of them young women drifters whom no one would notice. 

But someone has noticed now. Through the bleak midwinter and a frontier land of forbidding geography, Stevens and Windermere follow a frustratingly light trail of clues - and where it ends, even they will be shocked. 

Kirk Stevens is a special agent with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and his partner is Carla Windermere, who is an FBI special agent.  Their latest case is the rape and brutal murder of a young runaway who was a train hopper.  As they investigate, they discover there are more than 25 unsolved cases of women who had disappeared or had been  raped and murdered along the train line in the Northern Rocky Mountains.

I liked this book.  Though this is the sixth in the Stevens and Windermere series (I've read them all), it works as a stand alone.  If you want to get to know Stevens and Windermere, you should read the previous ones to find out the history and dynamics between them because the author doesn't dwell on any of that in this story.  I liked the writing style and found the storyline interesting ... I didn't realize there was a train hopping culture.  It's written in third person perspective with a focus on the various characters, including the murderer.  As a head's up, there is swearing.

The book is dedicated to the memory of the missing and murdered woman of Vancouver, BC's Downtown Eastside and Stevie Cameron's book, On the Farm, was used as background for this story.

Book ~ "The Stolen Ones" (2015) Owen Laukkanen

From Goodreads ~ Cass County, Minnesota: A sheriff’s deputy steps out of a diner on a rainy summer evening and a few minutes later, he’s lying dead in the mud. When BCA agent Kirk Stevens arrives on the scene, he discovers local authorities have taken into custody a single suspect: a hysterical young woman found sitting by the body, holding the deputy’s own gun. She has no ID, speaks no English. A mystery woman.

The mystery only deepens from there, as Stevens and Carla Windermere, his partner in the new joint BCA–FBI violent crime task force, find themselves on the trail of a massive international kidnapping and prostitution operation. Before the two agents are done, they will have traveled over half the country, from Montana to New York, and come face-to-face not only with the most vicious man either of them has ever encountered - but two of the most courageous women. 

They are sisters, stolen ones. But just because you’re a victim doesn’t mean you have to stay one.

Kirk Stevens a special agent with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).  He has just taken his family on a camping vacation when he gets a call that a police officer had been shot and Irina, the suspect, was found with him.  Since Stevens is close by, his boss asks him if he'd mind checking it out ... it should only take a couple hours.

Stevens discovers there is more to the case than everyone thought.  As he investigates, he finds that Irina and her sister, Catalina, had been kidnapped from their home in Romania, along with many other women, and transported across the Atlantic Ocean in a container on a ship.  They were going to be sold as prostitutes.  Irina had escaped from the container as it was being transported across the States but Catalina didn't.  Stevens has a daughter Catalina's age so is determined to put a stop to this operation.  He calls in his partner, Carla Windermere, who is an FBI special agent.

I enjoyed this book.  Though this is the fourth in the Stevens and Windermere series (I've read them all including the fifth one), it works well as a stand alone.  I liked the writing style and found the storyline interesting.  It's written in third person perspective with a focus on the various characters.  I like the short and/or choppy chapters.  As a head's up, there is swearing.

I liked Windermere and Stevens.  They are thorough and caring and will do anything and go anywhere to solve a case.  Mathers is a fellow FBI agent and colleague and he and Windermere have a "relationship".  Windermere has always been a loner ... though she cares about Mather, she isn't willing to admit it to him or herself.

I look forward to reading the next one which will be out soon.

Book ~ "Kill Fee" (2014) Owen Laukkanen

From Goodreads ~ The billionaire picked a heck of a way to die. 

On a beautiful Saturday in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, state investigator Kirk Stevens and his occasional colleague FBI special agent Carla Windermere witness the assassination of one of the state’s wealthiest men. The shooter is a young man, utterly unremarkable - except in his eyes. There is something very wrong in his eyes. 

And it’s only the beginning. The events of that sunny springtime day will lead Stevens and Windermere across the country, down countless blind alleys, and finally to a very flourishing twenty-first-century enterprise: a high-tech murder-for-hire social media website. But just who has the dead-eyed shooter targeted next ... and who’s choosing his victims? That’s where things get complicated.

Carla Windermere is an FBI special agent and Kirk Stevens a special agent with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).  Over the last few years, they have worked a couple cases together and have become friends.  They have gotten together for a visit when they witness a wealthy man being gunned down in broad daylight.  They give chase to the sniper but he gets away.  Windermere and Stevens are then assigned to this case.

As more people start getting murdered, Windermere and Stevens discover that there is a killer-for-hire website and they start crisscrossing the country trying to get ahead of the mastermind behind it.

Though this is the third in the Stevens and Windermere series, it works well as a stand alone.  I had read the first one when it came out in 2012 and enjoyed it.  I came across the fifth one and read it in April (and remembered the series) so now I'm catching up on them.

I liked the writing style and found the story interesting, though it took me a bit to get into it.  The story is a bit unrealistic but I went with it.  It's written in third person perspective with a focus on the various characters.  I like the short and/or choppy chapters.  As a head's up, there is swearing.

I've never been a big Windermere fan and I didn't find her overly endearing in this book.  Despite Stevens being in love with his wife and them having children, there has been an attraction between Windermere and Stevens and they come close to stepping over the boundaries.  Then there's Mather's, Windermere's new younger partner, who is also attracted to her.  I found this love triangle distracting and it didn't add to the story.

Book ~ "Criminal Enterprise" (2013) Owen Laukkanen

From Goodreads ~ From the outside, Carter Tomlin’s life looked perfect: a big house, pretty wife, two kids - a St. Paul success story. But Tomlin has a secret. He’s lost his job, the bills are mounting and that perfect life is hanging by a thread. Desperate, he robs a bank. Then he robs another.

As the red flags start to go up, FBI Special Agent Carla Windermere hones in on Tomlin from one direction, while Minnesota state investigator Kirk Stevens picks up the trail from another. The two cops haven’t talked since their first case together but that’s all going to change very quickly.

Because Carter Tomlin’s decided he likes robbing banks. And it’s not because of the money, not anymore. Tomlin has guns and a new taste for violence. And he’s not quitting anytime soon.

Carter Tomlin's life falls apart when he is laid off from his job.  He has a family and a nice life in St. Paul that he has to support but no one is hiring.  In desperation, he spontaneously robs a bank one day.  That got him a couple thousand dollars, not enough to even pay his mortgage, but it gave him an alternative to declaring bankruptcy.  As he robs more and more banks to support his life and family, he sets up a small accounting firm to hide what he is really doing for a living.  The robberies start getting bigger and bolder as he takes on a couple partners.

FBI agent Carla Windermere is assigned this case along with her senior partner but they don't get along as they both have their own theories about who is doing the robberies.  Carla's former partner, Kirk Stevens, is back to trying to solve old cases.  He'd love to be back in the action with her but he promised his wife he wouldn't put himself in danger by being a hero.

This is the second in the Stevens and Windermere series.  Though there are references to the first book, it works as a stand alone.  I had read the first one when it came out in 2012 and enjoyed it.  I said at the time I could see them teaming up for a series and then forgot about it.  I came across the fifth one in the series and read it in April so now I'm going back to catch up on the series.

I liked the writing style and found the story interesting.  It's written in third person perspective with a focus on the various characters.  It was interesting to watch Tomlin go from a desperate man just trying to find money to support his family to enjoying the power of doing the robberies.  As a head's up, there is swearing.

Book ~ "The Watcher in the Wall" (2016) Owen Laukkanen

From Goodreads ~ Kirk Stevens and Carla Windermere of the joint BCA-FBI violent crime task force have handled shocking cases before but this one is different. 

Stevens’s daughter, Andrea, is distraught over a classmate’s suicide, but what the two investigators find is even more disturbing - an online suicide club of unhappy teenagers, presided over by an anonymous presence who seems to be spurring them on. Soon it becomes apparent that the classmate wasn’t the first victim - and won’t be the last, either, unless they can hunt down this psychopath once and for all.

Carla Windermere is an FBI agent and Kirk Stevens is a special agent with Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension ... they work together on a joint FBI-BCA violent crimes task force.

Windermere and Stevens are wrapping up a case when Adrian, a classmate of Stevens' daughter, commits suicide.  Stevens checks it out and discovers the student had been the object of bullying ... this brings back memories and guilt for Windermere of when she was in high school and a fellow student went through the same thing.

Further investigation reveals Adrian was on a chat forum for people wanting to commit suicide and they discover that someone named Ashley had befriended him and encouraged him to take his life while she watched, saying that it would give her the courage to do the same.  They find that Adrian isn't the first person Ashley has encouraged to commit suicide while she watches.  Windermere and Stevens are determined to hunt her down before she can convince others to end their lives.

I liked the writing style and it kept me interested.  It's written in third person perspective with a focus on Windermere and Ashley.  As such, you get to know Windermere and Ashley well as the story jumps back and forth from the past to the present.  As a head's up, there is swearing.  I didn't find Windermere especially likeable ... she's so hard, cold and unfeeling and a bit messed up.

Though this is the fifth in the Stevens and Windermere series, it works as a stand alone.  I had read the first one when it came out in 2012.  I enjoyed it and said I could see them teaming up for a series and they have.  I'm going to go back and catch up on numbers two to four.

Book ~ "The Professionals" (2012) Owen Laukkanen

From Goodreads ~ Four friends, recent college graduates, caught in a terrible job market, joke about turning to kidnapping to survive. And then, suddenly, it's no joke. For two years, the strategy they devise-quick, efficient, low risk ... works like a charm. Until they kidnap the wrong man.


Now two groups they've very much wanted to avoid are after them ... the law, in the form of veteran state investigator Kirk Stevens and hotshot young FBI agent Carla Windermere, and an organized-crime outfit looking for payback.

As they all crisscross the country in deadly pursuit and a series of increasingly explosive confrontations, each of them is ultimately forced to recognize the truth: The true professionals, cop or criminal, are those who are willing to sacrifice ... everything.

I'd read about this book in the Toronto Star in May.  I was attracted to this book because it's a mystery written by a Canadian.

Marie, Pender, Sawyer and Mouse recently graduated from university but can't find a job.  They decide to spend a few years crisscrossing across the U.S. kidnapping people and charging a $60,000 ransom.  It's a small enough amount so the families can get it and it will be more of an annoyance to the family so won't be reported.  But things turn ugly when they kidnap a man with mob connections who is cocky and mouthy.  Then it's a crosscountry chase to catch them.

I liked the characters.  I can see Stevens and Windermere teaming up again for a series of books.  They like each other and work well together.  I liked the kidnappers and was cheering for them.

I'll be keeping an eye out for other books by this author.