USA Today
Smith tells one heck of a crime story with tightly woven, suspenseful plots and lovable but terribly mixed-up protagonists. These women may fall short in the ability-to-have-a-normal-relationship category, but when it comes to honesty and dedication, they've got the bases covered. — Carol Memmott
The New York Times
Although Ana is not your conventional heroine, with her unbridled passions and addiction to ''the pure oxygen of risk, of going over the edge,'' it's hard to peel your eyes from her -- especially when she persists in pursuing Juliana's attacker while standing trial for attempted murder. A risk taker herself, Smith writes in the forceful style of a true literary maverick, someone who has earned the right to break a few rules. — Marilyn Stasio
The Los Angeles Times
… grainy, urgent, syncopated, sinuously plotted and deftly delivered. — Eugen Weber
Publishers Weekly
Intelligent and uncompromising, this second in a series by Smith reprises the successes of her acclaimed first thriller, North of Montana. Feisty, unconventional FBI Special Agent Ana Grey is teamed with tough but compassionate Police Det. Andrew Berringer on a kidnapping case involving Santa Monica teen Juliana Meyer-Murphy. Grey and Berringer continue the tempestuous personal relationship begun in Smith's first novel: "That's how we met. Working the same bank robbery, dubbed `Mission Impossible' because the bandit came in through the roof. We don't always catch the bad guys, but we're great with the nicknames." After Juliana is released alive but physically and psychologically devastated, the case becomes personal for Ana. Learning the harrowing particulars of Juliana's ordeal and observing the well-meaning but brutally invasive examinations the girl must undergo-described in clinical detail-she grows more and more obsessed with the demented killer/rapist, a charismatic ex-marine. As the chase intensifies, so does Ana's troubled relationship with Andrew. An argument that escalates into physical confrontation changes the lives of both when Ana pulls a gun and fires. While Ana is still in the middle of the fallout, the kidnapping case ends in a Silence of the Lambs-style standoff at the killer's private gallery of horrors. Smith's finely calibrated, unsentimental writing and tart humor make her a standout in the genre. She doesn't just tell a story; she illuminates the human condition through the pain and complex lives-and deaths-of her compelling characters. (May 4) Forecast: There's a good chance this will hit the lists-Knopf is pushing it hard, with a 100,000 first printing and an 11-city author tour. BOMC and Literary Guild selections; Random House audio. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
At the conclusion of this fast-paced, well-written mystery (after Smith's exciting debut, North of Montana), FBI agent Ana Grey looks in the mirror and says, "Good morning, killer." The story begins with the brutal kidnapping and rape of a 15-year-old girl by a criminal whom Ana is certain is a serial rapist whose crimes will escalate to murder if he is not stopped. Her efforts to understand and apprehend this miscreant would alone make for a riveting plot, but Smith adds another story line that weaves Ana's personal life with her professional one as she pursues a hot and heavy relationship with a local cop, also assigned to the case. In the hands of a less competent writer, the overlapping, intertwined stories would be a tangled mess, but Smith deftly maintains control of her characters and the situations, resulting in a genuine page-turner. Highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/03.]-Ann Forister, Roseville P.L., CA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Ana Grey (North of Montana, 1994), FBI agent, returns to track down a sadistic kidnapper while navigating a stormy relationship with her cop boyfriend; the storylines are interwoven in what is, for the most part, a crackerjack suspenser. Who snatched 15-year-old Juliana, daughter of a wealthy businessman, from an outdoor mall in Santa Monica, and why is there no ransom demand? Ana, now a Bureau veteran, heads up the investigation. Her boyfriend, Detective Andrew Berringer (they met working a bank robbery), is assigned to the case by the local police department, and Ana outranks him. This will cause problems, adding to the turf wars between Bureau and locals. The first moment of high drama occurs when Juliana returns home, a walking zombie. Tests show the teenager to have been drugged, raped, mutilated and strangled. As the case moves forward and a suspect is identified, Ana's relationship unravels. Both she and Andrew are from troubled cop families: the grandfather who raised her was a "rage-aholic," while Andrew's father killed himself. This is rich soil for future mischief, made more likely by the darkness both brush up against every working day, and Smith describes these fault lines with a quiet passion. Ana had thought her only competition was Andrew's beloved Harley, and her discovery that he's is two-timing her; tensions on the job; old wounds reopened from the bank robbery case-all boil over one night at her apartment. Andrew attacks her; she shoots him in self-defense. That she's later arrested for attempted murder at the precise moment she's spotted the rape suspect at a stakeout is a tad too coincidental. Much more bothersome is Ana's self-destructive violation of her bailconditions: credible characterization is sacrificed to Smith's need to keep her storylines yoked together. The plot twists continue to the end but become ever less believable. Smith knows how to make the heart race. With better plotting, she'll be formidable. First printing of 100,000; Book-of-the-Month Club/Literary Guild selection
