LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan struggles after the death of her brother Max in Afghanistan. Sam Easton continues to be a character in this book series. There are many of the same characters in the books and could be read as a stand alone novel.

Detective Nolan's mother Emily tells her she will be going on a retreat to help her grief the loss of Max. The name of the retreat center, Children of the Desert, is a topic of discussion for many. Sam is asked by a friend to help rescue a woman and her daughter who fled the compound in Desolation Canyon in the middle of the desert. Nolan discovers that the Children of the Desert is a religious cult and desperately seeks to save her mother who unknowingly went there for respite. The story is complex with ties to the Russian mafia using the retreat center for their illegal smuggling activities. ( )

The plot lines are driven by extremely unlikely coincidences. The characters are like cardboard cutouts- detective novel stereotypes. It could not hold my attention. I returned it to the library after reading a little over 1/3 of the book. ( )

Desolation Canyon by P. J. Tracy

LAPD Homicide Detective Maggie Nolan is still struggling with the death of her brother. Without the support of her family, she finds the grief to be overwhelming. On one of her days off, she goes out for drinks with a colleague at the Hotel Bel Air Bar. A colleague, a colleague she knows she shouldn't be attracted to. While walking the grounds, they find the body of a successful attorney. At first, it seems like a straightforward case of misadventure, but this case is nothing it seems to be.
Will Maggie be able to find the truth without destroying herself and everyone she loves?

This was a very well-written novel. The descriptions were very graphic and made for a great understanding of the world around Maggie! The building of suspense will have everyone sitting at the end of their seats! Just a splendid book all the way around!
This book is like a roller coaster ride! Slow at the beginning to give you the structure! The speed builds you get into what is really going on and the action! At the end that sudden stop you get at the end of the ride and that rush you feel is the end of the book! The building climax to the end is great!
There's a lot of action twists and turns and it comes together perfectly at the end! You guys are going to love this book! Happy reading everyone!
This book is like a roller coaster ride! Slow at the beginning to give you the structure! The speed builds you get into what is really going on and the action! At the end that sudden stop you get at the end of the ride and that rush you feel is the end of the book! The building climax to the end is great! There's a lot of action twists and turns and it comes together perfectly at the end! You guys are going to love this book! Happy reading everyone!
This book is like a roller coaster ride! Slow in the beginning to give you the structure! The speed builds you get into what is really going on and the action! At the end that sudden stop you get at the end of the ride and that rush you feel is the end of the book! The building climax to the end is great! There's a lot of action twists and turns and it comes together perfectly at the end! You guys are going to love this book! Happy reading everyone! ( )

Thank you to the group Thrills Chills on FB.

This is the second of the series. I would have liked to read the first one to learn more about Sam but I got a good idea how his life went before.

It was a good mystery that had a lot going on and kept me interested until the last page with characters that were interesting. I like how they were interwoven together, strangers and colleagues.
1 like ( )

This is the second in the author’s series featuring LAPD homicide detective Margaret (“Maggie”) Nolan. I had not read the first book, and for the most part it didn’t pose a problem except for some indication of Maggie’s previous involvement of some sort with Sam Easton, another character in the story.

The story involves a cult-like retreat in the desert, in “Desolation Canyon”; a Russian mob; money laundering; and some vicious murders.

I didn’t get much of a feel for who Margaret was or what drove her. Sam, on the other hand, was an appealing character in part by being much better limned.

The plot gets very tense in places, and the danger draws you in if the characters don’t always elicit engagement by the reader. Some of the writing was clever as well, such as this observation:

“Life was an endless series of forks in the road, and if you didn’t choose wisely, you’d end up doing something foolish, like following the pheromone fork instead of the wise and responsible fork.” ( )