In the Clearing

By: Robert Dugoni

Narrated by: Emily Sutton-Smith

Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's Summary

Detective Tracy Crosswhite has a skill, and a soft spot, for tackling unsolved crimes. Having lost her own sister to murder at a young age, Tracy has dedicated her career to bringing justice and closure to the families and friends of victims of crime.

So when Jenny, a former police academy classmate and protégé, asks Tracy to help solve a cold case that involves the suspicious suicide of a Native American high school girl forty years earlier, Tracy agrees. Following up on evidence Jenny's detective father collected when he was the investigating deputy, Tracy probes one small town's memory and finds dark, well-concealed secrets hidden within the community's fabric. Can Tracy uphold the promise she's made to the dead girl's family and deliver the truth of what happened to their daughter? Or will she become the next victim?

©2016 Robert Dugoni (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Decent addition

I have read all the books in this series so far. While the books aren't great, they are good enough that I continue reading them. This book is a decent and entertaining addition to the series.
There are two distinct mysteries in this book that the detectives are attempting to solve. While this could easily lead to a disjointed and convoluted read, the author manages to present both stories in a way that works, until it doesn't. Quite a few times I was left with the impression that the secondary case was a space filler and it left me wishing the author had just focused on one case and developed it a lot more. I think that would have made this a much better book.

Incredible Story, Smart Police Procedural

I loved this book! Tracy Crosswhite is an incredible detective and wonderful character. And there are actually two really fascinating cases in this novel that require excellent police work.

The Clearing revolves around a cold case which was ruled a suicide some 40 years earlier. Crosswhite's friend's father, now dead, was new in the sherrif's department when the events occurred. He had well founded suspicions that the victim, an 18 year old Native American, was actually murdered. His inexperience renders him powerless as well as voiceless. He subsequently began a private investigation on his own, one that would last 40 years until his death. Crosswhite picks up the case on her own time, aided with modern forensics unavailable to law enforcement at the time of the crime.

Dugoni introduces us to characters living with the very real and tragic effects of violence, guilt, shame and lies. This is truly one of the best novels I've read lately.

I would put this up with John Hart's Redemption Road as the best mysteries of the year.

This Series Just Keeps Getting Better!

This is the 3rd book in the series featuring Seattle detective Tracy Crosswhite. Each book has been better than the last - the characters continue to develop and the plots are intriguing without relying on a overdose of violence and gore. There's just enough flavor of Seattle to be interesting to a Seattle native but enough fictionalized background so it doesn't feel like an attempt to recreate the city in every detail. The main characters are likable and their personal lives are interesting but not soap-opera-ish. For me this audio book has everything I like - good characters - good narrator - interesting plot - and doesn't have the things I try to avoid such as over the top violence and overly dramatic/hopelessly flawed main characters. Highly recommend to listeners who enjoy a well- written police procedural - I'm looking forward to the next book in the series!

Not his best

I've read the 3 books in this series. I enjoyed the first 2 very much. it was harder to get vested in this one. there were 2 different stories going on. one out of town which had back flashes to the 70's and one based in Seattle. if the focus stayed on one with more character development I would have enjoyed it much more. the forensic detail was more interesting with the story line with flashbacks. I hope the next installment stays in Seattle. the narration was solid.

40 year old cold case solved?

I speaks well of Robert Dugoni's writing skills that the third novel in the Tracy Crosswhite series while the weakest of the three is still a solid 5 star detective thriller. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Emily Sutton-Smith's narration is wonderful, as it always is.

what happened ???

the first two books were so good. I am not impressed at all with this one.

More! More!

It is going to be be hard to wait for the next book in this series! Well written, great stories, excellent narration! Dugoni is winner!

Not too interesting to me

This is about a current case and a 40 year old cold case. Traci Crosswhite is working on them simultaneously and the story goes back and forth between now and 40 years ago. That takes away from the story for me. Plus, I do not like stories about cold cases. After so much time passes by, it is anticlimactic for the case to be solved, in my opinion. An on-going case is much more interesting. I

have not been able to connect with Traci Crosswhite or any of the characters in this series. I am suspicious that it may be the monotonous narration by Sutton Smith that makes the characters so flat, but regardless of why, the characters just are not alive in my opinion. The only book in the series I truly liked was Trapped. It was more exciting than the others and I gave it a good review. However, this book, In the Clearing, gets only an okay rating. I had to stop listening after about 8 chapters in, and skip to the end to see who done it. Now I am ready to return the book. I do not want it to remain in my Library because I would never be tempted to listen to it again.

Boring

I’m glad I had the audio version of this book available to me, otherwise I would not have finished it. This was the dullest book of Dugoni I have read so far. The characters were uninteresting and you new how it would end before you got started.

Terrible narrator!!

Story okay, but became unreadable because of the atonal narration. Can’t listen to anymore. It and next story in series going back.

Will The Truth Eventually Be Uncovered

Dugoni is very good and he knows how's to keep his reader's engaged and griped from the very start. The narrator is good and doesn't detract from the story

Kept us both captured

Great story great characters and great narration that we enjoyed driving across the US together

Another excellent story

I really enjoyed this novel, cleverly executed and great characters.
Well narrated too, a very good series, this is book 3 I think.

Never believe what people tell you first off

A really good story told at a good pace with fine dialogue and some witty one liners. It proves to me that authors can write exciting and enjoyable stories without loads of erotica. Well narrated the tale has a couple of good twists and red herrings. I really do like this author and will continue to read this series. Highly recommended.