Leave no trace

Driscoll's enjoyable fifth FBI K-9 novel (after 2019's No Man's Land) takes FBI Human Scent Team agent Meg Jennings and her canine partner, Hawk, along with colleague Brian Foster and his dog, to a murder scene in a forested area of Georgia, where a sergeant in the Georgia State Patrol has been fatally shot by a three-foot-long hunting arrow. After the dogs are put on the scent, Meg and Brian follow them along a perilous path, proof of the killer's daring and agility. Other people are later killed in a similar fashion. The suspense builds as the investigators try to figure out what connects the deaths before another victim turns up. Despite some red herrings, readers will have little trouble figuring out the guilty party. Driscoll offers a fascinating look at the training of working dogs, who are depicted as uniformly brave and obedient. The romance between Meg and her unbelievably patient boyfriend, firefighter Tom Webb, adds some depth. Fans will look forward to Meg's further adventures. Agent: Nicole Resciniti, Seymour Agency. (Dec.)

A fifth outing pits search-and-rescue officer Meg Jennings and her canine partner against a serial killer whose choice of weapons drives the story. The shooting of Sgt. Noah Hubbert, of the Georgia State Patrol, would be shocking under any circumstances. What sets it apart is the fact that he's been shot with an arrow--and that he's not the first such victim in the area. Tim Reynolds, the chairman of the Fannin County Board of Commissioners, was struck down by an identical arrow two weeks ago. The killer's modus operandi should make him absurdly easy to track down: How many archers can reliably hit their targets from as far away as this one clearly was? And the most likely motive is pretty clear too: opposition to the Copperhill Dam, which has been planned to manage the water level of the Toccoa River, which separates McCaysville, Georgia, from Copperhill, Tennessee. But that doesn't deprive Driscoll of the opportunity for several gripping sequences involving the tracking of the suspect by members of the Human Scent Evidence Team and their canine partners. These action sequences, juiced by the heroine's fear of heights, are terrific, and the interplay between the dogs and their handlers is deeply felt. But neither the plotting nor the characterization measures up to them. Meg's friend Clay McCord, of the Washington Post, generates a list of award-winning archers, and then Meg and Special Agent Sam Torres, of the Atlanta FBI, go down the list, trying to ignore the mounting body count, till a profiler points them to the only suspect who's come close to making an impression. Strictly for dog lovers and action fans. Dogs-in-action junkies will be transported. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.