### From Publishers Weekly In veteran Anchorage journalist Doogan's uneven second Nik Kane mystery (after 2006's *Lost Angel*), a wealthy widow hires Kane, a disgraced former Anchorage cop turned PI, to help defend a promising Native Alaskan state legislator, Matthew Hope, against the charge of murdering an aide to conservative senator O.B. Potter. The first half of the book reads like a traditional detective novel, with a tough, troubled protagonist, mysterious client, unjustly accused suspect and reluctant informants, including Kane's estranged son, Dylan. Kane even acquires a sarcastic sidekick, Tlingit cab driver Cocoa Paul. The story eventually falls apart as Kane, working by instinct, suffers threats and beatings en route to an unsatisfying conclusion. Though most books set in Alaska take place in the glorious and forbidding wilderness, almost all the action is in the state capital, Juneau, a city that seems carved out of ice and rocks. Unfortunately, strong writing and evocative descriptions can't save a predictable plot and a hodgepodge of stock characters. *(Aug.)* Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### From Booklist Former Anchorage police detective Nik Kane spent seven years in prison after shooting a supposedly unarmed boy. He was exonerated when a witness recanted and said the boy had pointed a gun at Nik before the detective responded. Unable to rejoin the police department, Nik works for a security firm until he decides to go out on his own. His former boss offers him his first job: clear a native Alaskan state senator, Matthew Hope, of the charge of murdering another senator's legislative assistant. Hope proclaims his innocence but seems uninterested in defending himself, even though he was found standing over the body with the murder weapon in his hand. Kane quickly becomes immersed in Alaskan state politics, where corruption seems rife. It soon becomes clear that someone wants Kane off the case.This gritty, hard-boiled mystery, the second in a series, also finds Kane trying to reestablish a relationship with his son after his stint in prison. O'Brien, Sue

### From Publishers Weekly Meet Nik Kane, the charming star of a new series by *Anchorage Daily News* columnist Doogan. Kane, a 55-year-old ex-cop who's also an ex-con, not to mention an ex-husband, heads to the Alaskan interior to do some detective work for a remote religious community called Rejoice. One of Rejoice's leaders, Thomas Wright, has hired Kane to track down his teenage daughter, Faith. Maybe Faith ran away, or maybe she was abducted. Kane—only periodically distracted from his detecting by his attraction to a woman he meets at Rejoice—quickly learns that Faith wasn't representative of her conservative religious community. A budding feminist with Ivy League ambitions, she also had a sideline income, $500 a week, deposited in a pseudonymous bank account. While Doogan telegraphs the solution to the riddle of Faith's disappearance, engaging, lucid prose more than compensates. *(Aug.)* Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### From Booklist *Starred Review* A white-knuckle flight in a bush plane over the Alaskan wilderness jump-starts this debut novel, establishing both the unforgiving setting and the desperate resolve of the main character. Nik Kane spent 25 years with the Anchorage police, 15 as a detective. He has just been released from a 7-year prison term resulting from a false conviction and is on his own, adrift from the police and from his wife. Kane, forced into private investigation, is headed for Rejoice, a fundamentalist Christian community in the harsh, high desert of the interior. One of the daughters of the Elders, an 18-year-old girl named Faith, has gone missing; no one knows if she has simply broken free from the restrictive life at Rejoice or has met with foul play. This is a richly textured novel on several counts. Kane is achingly well delineated; his struggle to adjust to a much bigger, louder, more confusing world after the confines of prison--and to try to find meaning in a life stripped bare of supports--is gripping. All the exigencies of struggling through an Alaskan winter ring true (Doogan has long been a columnist for the *Anchorage Daily News*), and the portrayal of a religious community that holds both secrets and dangers is fascinating. A top-notch start to a projected mystery series. *Connie Fletcher* *Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved*