Bought from the Friends of the Nipomo Library today.

What a way to complicate an unlikely serial killer scenario!

I have read far too many novels about serial killers that operate in such methodical ways that others can actually define what they are looking for and why. In real life it is rarely that straightforward and the killers are probably as confused as we are. Here we have another one - a killer who has killed young girls and strewn their graves along route 66, starting many years ago. And now it appears there is a new wrinkle in the killer's routine.

Even more unlikely: a therapist treats families of lost children through online groups. He organizes a caravan that travels along route 66, spreading "have you seen my child?" posters along the way, and of course talking to each other about their losses. People join the caravan when they can and leave it when they must so its size is not stable.

Enter Mallory. A detective with her own deep, dark past, Mallory disappears for an unknown reason, leaving the apparent suicide of a woman in Mallory's apartment. Her partner does what he must to track her down without sending out alarm bells in the department. She is not an easy person to get along with but her detecting skills are top-notch. He does not initially know where to find her but he is a pretty good detective himself and finally catches a whiff.

The two work on the missing children case, alongside FBI agents who behave in a suspicious manner, to say the least.

The book is not written in a straightforward manner. We learn, along with Mallory's partner, Detective Sergeant Riker, just what set Mallory on her route 66 quest in the first place, and take that quest to its natural conclusion. We get to know a few of the members of the caravan and can guess whether one of them might be a killer. We learn quite a bit about Mallory and what made her the hardcore person she is.

Inside the box.