ARC Review: A Voice from the Field by Neal Griffin

A Voice from the Field
Author: Neal Griffin
Publication: Forge Books (February 2, 2016)

Description: Tia Suarez jumped off the pages in Griffin's brilliant debut novel, Benefit of the Doubt. Now she takes center stage in her own story, A Voice from the Field, a gripping thriller about human trafficking in the U.S.

Gunther Kane and his white supremacist group are using forced prostitution to finance the purchase of automatic weapons. Kane snatches young women off the streets and sells them to hundreds of men. When a victim is used up, she's killed and dumped. After all, there are always more where she came from.

Physically recovered from being shot but struggling with PTSD, Tia Suarez almost doesn't believe her eyes when she glimpses a Hispanic teenager bound and gagged in the back of Kane's van. The look of terror on the woman's face makes Tia desperate to rescue her.

Kane's in the crosshairs of the FBI, who don't want a small-town Wisconsin detective messing up their big gun bust.

Tia Suarez doesn't back down for anyone. Not the department shrink; not the feds who dismiss her; not even her boyfriend, a Marine veteran who thinks she doesn't know what she's getting into. Tia will find the missing teen come hell or high water.

My Thoughts: Former Marine and now Police Detective Tia Suarez stars in this book by Griffith after being introduced in BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT. The story begins with her on an undercover operation looking for johns in Milwaukee when a sting goes wrong. She is almost abducted by a man who tries to drag her into a van where she sees a young Hispanic woman who is bound and gagged. Her police colleagues quickly close in but not before the driver and van disappear leaving Gunther Kane behind.

Tia figures Kane is up for assault on a police officer and attempted kidnapping but is surprised when the district attorney says a deal has been made which will charge Kane with disorderly conduct and get him out of jail in ten days. Tia is outraged that no one is concerned for the young woman she saw in the back of the van. But Tia has been suffering from PTSD since the shooting episode in the last book and a Near Death Experience has left her with what the department's shrink is calling hallucinations. The defense thinks she would not be a credible witness if her medical history gets out.

Tia is wondering herself if she is going crazy. She has been drinking too much and abusing her prescription meds in order to try to drown out the voice she keeps hearing. But she isn't going to forget about the girl no matter who wants her to. She doesn't care how high up the command comes from to back off. Ben Sawyer is now the chief of police and the friendship he and Tia forged in the first book is strained but he is still offering his support. Tia also has the support of her boyfriend who lost his legs in an IED explosion in Afghanistan and now works in a grocery store. He hasn't lost his instincts for bad situations or his skills as a sniper but he needs Tia to trust him and not keep pushing him away.

This was a fast-paced thriller with all sort of twists and turns as Tia needs to battle not only outside forces but her own mind. Fans of thrillers will enjoy this one. 

Favorite Quote:

All the liquor and prescription dope in Wisconsin wasn't going to drown out the most terrifying thought: What if I really am losing my mind?

I got this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. You can buy your copy here.