I haven’t been reading much because pregnancy is taking its toll and this book has been on my to be read pile for a while. Well it was well worth the wait. Ruttan excels at writing a crime procedural that twists and turns and is a page-turner. What I love most about her is characters are full of integrity, but she also livens things up with complicated sub-characters who act as villains and propel the action forward. It’s also peppered through with social commentary as the characters interact with each other. Like this interaction between Craig and Ashlyn about society’s attitudes toward rape victims:
“It isn’t just the department, Craig. It’s society. Some people still have the attitude that it isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a person. or that if a woman gets raped she must have asked for it, or she might have consented and then cried rape. We have women complicating the issue by using rape as a cover or a ploy for sympathy, and we have some segments of our population looking at women who’ve been raped as ‘damaged goods.’”
“What’s the solution then?”
She shrugged. “Society’s attitude about sex needs to change. You have to go to the root source, and with politicians being caught paying for hookers or with their pants down in the office and then trying to lie their way out of it … well, we’re just reinforcing the idea that most men don’t respect women. It’s more subtle than it used to be, but it’s still there.”
This is a great read for anyone who loves meaty crime fiction. Ruttan is a master at her craft.
