LOST IN YELLOWSTONE, Nicole Maggi's second National Park Mystery with ISB agent Emme Helliwell

LOST IN YELLOWSTONE: National Park Mystery #2
NICOLE MAGGI
Oceanview Publishing (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$23.99 ebook, available now

Rating: 4.25* of five

The Publisher Says: A foot in a geyser. A school in the wild. A truth no one saw coming.

When a human foot is ejected from a geyser in Yellowstone National Park, Special Agent Emme Helliwell of the National Park Service is assigned the chilling case.

Tasked with identifying the victim and uncovering what led to such a grisly end, Emme is drawn into the park's vast, unforgiving wilderness—and into the orbit of a private school for at-risk teens where extreme backcountry excursions are part of the curriculum. As disturbing truths begin to surface, Emme must also confront personal fault lines, including the unresolved tension with an ex-boyfriend who's suddenly back in her life and assigned to the same case.

In a place where danger hides behind natural beauty and good intentions can mask darker motives, Emme must navigate both treacherous terrain and emotional landmines to solve a mystery that could cost her everything.

Perfect for readers of C. J. Box, Paul Doiron, and Lisa Gardner

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: In the course of doing my due diligence, I looked for published book reviews of this second Emme Helliwell mystery (after A Murder in Zion) and ran across a depressing reality of our time: They were mostly book reports. I think that's a shame because opinions are helpful in deciding on the suitability of a read for one's own TBR shelf. If you read my reviews, I'll give you an opinion about a book's merits. Of course you might end up disagreeing, or might not like my way of expressing my opinion; but you will know more than a restatement of the blurb can tell you.

So, here I go:

Another really weird case death under unusual circumstances brings Emme to Yellowstone in order to poke her nose into the situation. Her still-smarting ex, whom I called "Thrush" throughout because it's the best name for him...smarting because Emme just ghosted him with not so much as fuck-you in explanation...and the dude she met last book who's really perfect for her, Finn, are involved in this weird case. Thrush and Emme *have* to be, they work for the National Parks Service's Investigative Services Bureau, but Finn chooses to be. The unattached foot and its mysterious companion object, a red pocket knife spotted by the informant of the probable crime's commission, cost both Emme and Thrush actual skin in the form of burns suffered while retrieving them as the "game" takes shape.

Emme is, as in the last book which ended mere days before this one starts, still processing her mother's death, her uneasy relationship with her younger sister, and now her awfulness to Thrush needs mending too. It's not only about the restoration of Ma'at in this story. It's about Emme becoming aware of how true the truism "hurt people hurt people" really is. It's all internal in this story, as her trail of devastation through genuinely good guy Thrush's heart is never shown to lead to her making any sort of adult apology to him, never acknowledging the hurt and harm she's caused, seeking forgiveness, promising to change her ways towards him. It's like Author Maggi decided her inner awareness of her unkindness was enough.

It ain't.

The case brings these two together, and if I'm honest, I sorta hoped Thrush would brush off Emme's halfassed request to be friends. With great unkindness. I'm all about FMCs being as complicated in their emotional lives as males have always been allowed to be. Look at Harry Hole: Popular novels, popular TV show, miserable nasty guy, so bring it Author Maggi!

The investigation leads to an outdoor program developed to rehabilitate teen offenders. To no one's surprise it's not run in such a way as to make the families sending their kids there feel good about it. Emme is a representative of law enforcement, so automatically suspect to the young offenders; winning their trust to get information she needs taxes Emme to the utmost. Her character is developed as the story delves into some dark and violent territory (in retrospect, not immediate and present until the ending). The manner she comes into possession of information to resolve this case harkens back to her Zion National Park case, unsolved in the legal sense....

I like the storytelling as well as the story told here. It's a series with developing promise. I'm glad Oceanview brings these stories from debut and early-career authors out. Conglomerates only want hits, not to make careers for authors who might, or might not, throw a hit out one day. I predict Author Maggi will be one who does.