Tracking Time - Softcover

The appealing Chinese American NYPD detective April Woo is back in this popular series. Psychiatrist Jason Frank has asked for her help in finding Maslow Atkins, a training analyst who's gone missing after a therapy session with his patient Allegra Caldera, a highly disturbed young woman. Maslow was last seen setting off for an evening run through Central Park, so April calls in a canine tracking unit. The dog's discovery of the body of a homeless man who was the only known witness to Maslow's abduction causes a rift between April and her boyfriend Mike Sanchez, the homicide cop who abruptly pulls rank to take over the case. But April stays on Maslow's trail anyway, and soon finds that although Allegra seems to be the logical suspect, two out-of-control teenagers from affluent families may also be involved in the kidnapping and murder. When Allegra turns out to be connected to Maslow in ways neither he nor Jason Frank suspected, the plot takes another fascinating turn.

What makes author Leslie Glass's police procedural series unique (Stealing Time, Judging Time, Loving Time) is the cross-cultural relationship between April and Sanchez, a romance doomed to failure, according to Skinny Dragon, April's endlessly fascinating mother. It took several books in the Time series for April to fall into Mike's well-muscled arms, and if Skinny Dragon has her way, there'll be plenty more before she dances at their wedding. --Jane Adams

Jane E. Lawder reads this April Woo mystery professionally and empathetically. Two misguided teenagers are central characters, and Lawder portrays them with ease, distinction, and sympathy, even when their actions are cruel and heartless. Dr. Maslow Atkins's ordeal of being buried alive while Detective Woo uses two different K-9 search units to scour Central Park for him is gripping. Lawder uses pacing and volume to increase the tension of this suspenseful thriller about family secrets and adolescent rage. This involving story could be torn from today's headlines and does not have a happy resolution. S.C.A. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine