Mary Grant knew her husband Joe was an FBI agent. He had promised her however that his work wasn’t dangerous, since he worked as an electronic surveillance specialist and she counted on that promise, especially after their youngest daughter Grace was diagnosed with cancer. But when she gets a call from the special agent in charge saying Joe has been shot, she realizes that his work is far more dangerous than she had ever realized.

Mary quickly learns that there are many unanswered questions surrounding Joe’s death and the work that he was doing. Don Bennett, Joe’s boss in the Austin office, seems worried and instead of being supportive while Joe is dying in the ICU, keeps asking probing questions of Mary Her suspicions now aroused, Mary is reluctant to tell anyone about the voice mail message that Joe left her in which he used their code word for “something is terribly wrong.” In that message he tells her to call someone named Sid and tell him that he needs to keep trying. The message is hurried and urgent and after telling her he loves her and the girls, it abruptly ends.

After Joe dies, Mary sits in her car in the hospital parking lot numb with grief. Hoping to hear his voice again, Mary looks at her phone but the message she heard before is now gone even though she knows that she could not have deleted it and suddenly things seem more suspicious than ever.

Reich has created a strong character in Mary; competent, clear eyed and logical, she slowly begins to piece together what happened to her husband. Initially she acts on her own, but soon she enlists the help of “Tank,” a reporter friend who has recently been fired and then because of her technical skills as a computer geek, she slowly allows her daughter Jessie, to help as well, even though as a typical teen she is very difficult to deal with. Together this mismatched group, who seemingly have nothing to go on but a message that was erased, begin to piece together the larger conspiracy that killed Joe. Although sometimes a bit formulaic, Reich’s pacing and the suspense he builds keep you flipping the pages and wanting to see how it all ends.

Brenda’s Rating: *** (3 out of 5 Stars) 

Recommend this book to: Sharon and Marian

Book Study Worthy: sure

Read in ebook format.