Review by Booklist Review
In the fourth Timber Creek K-9 mystery, officer Mattie Cobb and her canine sidekick, the endearing Robo, team up with veterinarian Cole Walker to stop a serial killer. Mattie and Cole have been unofficial partners since the first book in the series, Killing Trail (2015), and by now they're comfortable with each other, comfortable enough to be exploring, gently, the idea of romance. But that might have to take a back seat for now; it turns out that one of the bodies found on a Colorado mountain ridge is that of Mattie's estranged brother. The writing is strong, the mystery is well developed, and this book, in particular, takes us deep into Mattie's personal life, opening up new doors into her past. Although the the series is linked by its continuing characters, each installment can be read as a stand-alone. Fans of Alex Kava's Ryder Creed series should find the Cobb series very much to their liking.--David Pitt Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
When veterinarian Cole Walker and his two young daughters go for a trail ride in Mizushima's agreeable fourth Timber Creek K-9 mystery (after 2017's Hunting Hour), they make a gruesome discovery: a man's charred boot with a decomposing foot still in it. Deputy Mattie Cobb of the Timber Creek, Colo., sheriff's office and her canine partner, Robo, go looking for the rest of the body. Once they find it, the victim turns out to have a personal link to Mattie's own troubled past. She and her brother were separated as small children after their father went to prison for assaulting their mother, who later abandoned them. Mattie's interactions with her colleagues and friends, particularly with Cole, to whom she's romantically attracted, ring true. Robo, meanwhile, comes across as a real dog without any of the anthropomorphic characteristics that many genre authors impose upon animals. Readers will be fascinated to learn how search dogs are trained and to see one in action. Mizushima delivers a sufficiently complicated plot, well-developed interpersonal relationships, awe-inspiring landscape descriptions, and some excruciatingly vivid action. Agent: Terrie Wolf, AKA Literary Management. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
When veterinarian Cole Walker's dog finds a boot with a foot in it, Timber Creek, CO, deputy Mattie Cobb worries that Walker's two daughters, who were on the scene, will be traumatized. As a former foster child, Mattie struggles with trusting people. She does trust her K-9 cop partner Robo though, and the two are able to find the rest of the victim. The names tattooed on the man's body hit home for Mattie. Could it be her missing brother Willie, whom she hasn't seen in 25 years? While Mattie and Robo work the case, they unearth additional clues, but another link to her family forces her to abandon the formal investigation. Someone wants Mattie and Robo taken out permanently, and Cole joins forces with the sheriff's department when Robo is attacked and Mattie vanishes. VERDICT Mizushima's latest (after Hunting Hour) is an intense mystery that emphasizes the abilities of Robo and his partnership with Mattie. Combining a police procedural with Mattie's personal story creates an anxiety-inducing novel that will remind readers of Nevada Barr's books.-Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
After a slow adjustment to life in Timber Creek, Colorado, the very private Deputy Mattie Cobb is finally starting to lower her defenses and get to know the people of her community.Mattie had a difficult childhood. She was raised by foster mother Mama T after being abandoned by her parents. That was probably for the best given that her birthparents seem to have been involved in criminal activities. Although things worked out, Mattie doesn't revisit the past much, and her friends and colleagues know little about her beyond what she chooses to tell. But her relationship with single father and local veterinarian Cole Walker and his two young daughters has made her open up a bit. She's even gotten comfortable enough to welcome her brother Willie back into her life after many years of separation, and she looks forward to meeting up with him in the coming weeks. After Cole and his family discover evidence of a body on Redstone Ridge, Mattie's expertiseand that of her canine partner, Robogets her called in for a search. But the body is just the beginning of a series of crimes up on the ridge, and Mattie and her colleagues are horrified by the brutality of the perpetrator. Worse still is an unusual phone call Mattie receives from Tamara, her brother's girlfriend. Willie's gone missing, and Mattie can only hope that his disappearance is a relapse rather than something darker rooted in their shared history. Mizushima boldly emphasizes her heroine's history, connecting Mattie's past with her current case and forcing Mattie to take a leap and share her story with colleagues and friends in order to catch the killer.The development of an extensive backstory over a multibook arch (Hunting Hour, 2017, etc.) pays off when a police officer long known for keeping things to herself begins to confront her past and connect with those in her present. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
