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Formats
Ebook Details
  • 08/2020
  • B08GYXR77R
  • 307 pages
  • $3.99
Paperback Details
  • 08/2020
  • 978-1732289086
  • 238 pages
  • $12.99
Lori Lacefield
Author
99 Truths
A murderer on the loose. A career on the line. If she fails to catch him, she’ll lose more than her job. After a recent mistake, FBI special agent Frankie Johnson is desperate to prove she has what it takes to become a lead profiler with the Bureau’s Charlotte, NC field office. So when the district attorney’s daughter is discovered bound, raped, and murdered, she volunteers to assist local detectives on the case to help find her killer. The evidence leads to two suspects—the victim’s husband and her lover—but after a series of intense interrogations, the police find themselves no closer to uncovering the truth. It’s clear both suspects are lying, but about who, what, and when? Frankie develops four possible profiles based upon the murderer’s motive and intent, but with the facts shifting daily, any one of them could prove correct. She battles the headstrong detective to convince him of her findings, but with physical evidence that is simultaneously damning and circumstantial, she senses their only hope in finding the true killer is to uncover the lies in their suspects’ testimony. Now, it’s a race to expose someone who knows the deception game as well as she does. Can she see through the misleading words and actions of a killer to uncover the one lie that will expose the truth before a killer walks free? 99 Truths is the electrifying first book in the Frankie Johnson FBI Profiler thriller series. If you like cop dramas, heroines with heart, and surprising twists, then you’ll love Lori Lacefield’s chilling mystery.
Reviews
This unfocused but enjoyable series launch from Lacefield (The Fifth Juror) introduces tenacious FBI profiler Frankie Johnson. After bungling an important investigation, Frankie gets a second chance, consulting with Charlotte, N.C., police on a gruesome case: the rape and murder of 25-year-old Lianna Wakefield-Bradenton, the district attorney’s daughter. Frankie, assigned to psychoanalyze the sadistic killer, and lead detective Deke Deaton question Lianna’s husband, Stewart, and her lover, Joe Archuletta, but each maintains he is being framed, and neither fits Frankie’s profile. Meanwhile, Deke’s prior relationship with Lianna, his hatred for her husband, and his desire for Frankie threaten to jeopardize the investigation, while the murder of a possible witness only muddies the waters.

Lacefield’s work shines when Frankie is in the spotlight. She peppers interviews with tidbits about body language, interrogation style, and personality types, appealing to those who like ample psychology in their detective fiction. When Frankie’s narrative takes a back seat (including an underdeveloped side plot involving Frankie’s partner pursuing a fraudulent investor), the plot falters. Frankie is a smart character with a well-developed origin story. She’s a mixed-race woman in law enforcement in the American South, an identity that deserves more exploration than it gets, and Lacefield handles race clumsily at times; for example, a period when Frankie wore “loud colors” and hoop earrings is described as her “African-American days.”

The story is at its most engrossing when the reader is one step behind the detective. Lacefield tips her hand too early, particularly in chapters focusing on characters other than Frankie. Still, even though some readers may guess the ending beforehand, the climax is fast-paced and enjoyable. This book will appeal to those who are as interested in the why of the crime as in the who.

Takeaway: Readers who like tough, female detectives and in-depth criminal psychology will enjoy this cat-and-mouse thriller.

Great for fans of Lisa Gardner’s FBI Profiler series, Karin Slaughter’s Triptych.

Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: -
Editing: B
Marketing copy: A-

Formats
Ebook Details
  • 08/2020
  • B08GYXR77R
  • 307 pages
  • $3.99
Paperback Details
  • 08/2020
  • 978-1732289086
  • 238 pages
  • $12.99
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