Maggie is not doing so well, either. A German shepherd who survived three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan sniffing explosives before losing her handler to an IED, her PTSD is as bad as Scott's.
They are each other's last chance. Shunned and shunted to the side, they set out to investigate the one case that no one wants them to touch: the identity of the men who murdered Stephanie. What they begin to find is nothing like what Scott has been told, and the journey will take them both through the darkest moments of their own personal hells. Whether they will make it out again, no one can say.
Pete and Maggie were stationed in Afghanistan. When Pete was killed in duty, Maggie was shipped back to the U.S. Because of her emotional trauma, it's doubtful she'll ever be a service dog again.
Scott is a cop. He and his partner, Stephanie, were on patrol one night when they got in the middle of a surprise attack. Three are left dead, including Stephanie. Scott suffered serious injuries, both physical and emotional. He can't perform as a cop again and his only option is to get transferred to the K-9 unit.
Seeing something of himself in Maggie, he chooses her as his dog. Maggie is still mourning Pete and Scott is obsessed with finding Stephanie's killer. As they work together learning their new roles in the K-9 unit and becoming "pack", they also investigate to figure out who arranged for the attack eight months ago.
Robert Crais is one of my favourite authors and I've read all his books ... I discovered his Elvis Cole series back in the 1990s. Plus I love stories about dogs and obviously this one focused a lot on Maggie.
Though this book is written in third person perspective, it takes on different points of view including Scott's and even Maggie's. Scott wasn't much of a dog person (he lied to get the K-9 job) and it was nice to see the connection between he and Maggie grow. When it was Maggie's point of view, I thought Crais did an excellent job getting into her head and her expressing her thoughts. For Maggie, it's all about being part of a pack. Once she forms a bond with Scott, she will do everything to protect him. I liked Scott's boss, Leland. Though he seems to be a gruff and cranky man, he becomes a mushball when it comes to dogs. Joyce is a cop who gives Scott access to the files about the investigation and there are some sparks between them at the end of the book.
The ending came up rather quickly and I was okay with the "whodunnit". As a head's up, there is some swearing in this book.
I enjoyed this book. I can see Scott and Maggie being the start of a new series (I hope so!). In fact, I understand that Crais' next book will join Scott and Maggie with Elvis Cole and Joe Pike ... should be good!
This sounds great. Chris would love this one.
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