Hunting Hour (Timber Creek K-9, Bk 3)
Author:
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Type: Hardcover
Author:
Genre: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Type: Hardcover
Third in the Timber Creek K-9 series with Deputy Mattie Cobb and her K-9 Robo, working in a small town in Colorado. Cobb is called out with her dog to search for a missing girl near the high school, but tragically they find her murdered body nearby. The search for the murderer turns up several suspects, but within a few days another girl is missing - this time Sophie, the daughter of Cobb's good friend Cole Walker. The hunt goes frantic, but none of the suspects can be either eliminated or confirmed.
I find Mattie a very appealing character. She's smart and determined, but she's capable of taking advice when needed. She's got issues but she knows it and she's working on it, and she's not self-destructive. What I really liked here was in the hunt for Sophie, how Mattie is personally involved and the situation brings up her painful memories of childhood abuse. Mattie really starts to lose it, but she's able to keep it together and stay in the search. Her instincts send her down the wrong trail more than once and her superior officers need to bring her back on track. I liked how the mentally ill man was portrayed and the end result for him. I was less happy that Cole Walker's kids got handed another awful experience, Mizushima needs to give them a break. Great tension-filled book without any gory moments, some new interesting tidbits about how the tracking dogs are trained, and a bit of character development for both Mattie and Cole. I also liked the bit at the end, looks like Mizushima might expand the plot possibilities for the pair. Reading so many mysteries it is not unusual for me to immediately guess the villain, and I got it here about halfway through. A minor flaw is that despite scenes set on ranches or in the woods, I don't get much of a sense of place from these. Big plus: Robo the K-9 is shown as a real dog, a great working dog who loves his handler.
You could start here if you haven't read the previous two, but I think a new reader would get a little more out of the characters by starting with the first in the series. I will be looking for #4.
I find Mattie a very appealing character. She's smart and determined, but she's capable of taking advice when needed. She's got issues but she knows it and she's working on it, and she's not self-destructive. What I really liked here was in the hunt for Sophie, how Mattie is personally involved and the situation brings up her painful memories of childhood abuse. Mattie really starts to lose it, but she's able to keep it together and stay in the search. Her instincts send her down the wrong trail more than once and her superior officers need to bring her back on track. I liked how the mentally ill man was portrayed and the end result for him. I was less happy that Cole Walker's kids got handed another awful experience, Mizushima needs to give them a break. Great tension-filled book without any gory moments, some new interesting tidbits about how the tracking dogs are trained, and a bit of character development for both Mattie and Cole. I also liked the bit at the end, looks like Mizushima might expand the plot possibilities for the pair. Reading so many mysteries it is not unusual for me to immediately guess the villain, and I got it here about halfway through. A minor flaw is that despite scenes set on ranches or in the woods, I don't get much of a sense of place from these. Big plus: Robo the K-9 is shown as a real dog, a great working dog who loves his handler.
You could start here if you haven't read the previous two, but I think a new reader would get a little more out of the characters by starting with the first in the series. I will be looking for #4.
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