November 28, 2016
At the start of Driscoll’s wonderfully readable series launch, FBI special agent Megan Jennings and her black Labrador partner, Hawk, are tracking a child murderer through a Maryland forest. The pair soon shift to search and rescue work in the ruins of the Department of Agriculture headquarters in Washington, D.C., which has been devastated by a drone-delivered bomb built by a man with a head full of antigovernment resentment and a big stash of C-4 explosive. While the villain gloats and plans even bloodier atrocities, ex-cop Meg gets deeply involved in the manhunt, aided by a jaded but humane newspaper reporter and encouraged by a hunky, sensitive firefighter. The tension builds to another wilderness chase, this time through the mountains of West Virginia, as Meg and Hawk close in on the bomber. There’s nothing especially new about the characters or plot, but Driscoll has selected and assembled the story elements with impressive professionalism. Driscoll is the pen name of Jen J. Danna and Ann Vaderlaan (the Abbot and Lowell forensic mysteries). Agent: Nicole Resciniti, Seymour Agency.