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Welcome to the world of Evelyn James the latest in the line of forensic pathologist to grace us with her presence. TRACE EVIDENCE is set in Cleveland where the author was a forensic scientist with the Coroners Office and is a tale of concrete shoes, divided loyalties, and unrequited love. When Evelyn is called to identify a body that has been pulled out of the river the first instinctive thought is that it was a mob hit. After all the body was wrapped in chains and the victim's feet encased in concrete. However, when the next victim turns out to be the young daughter of the mayor of Cleveland, the investigation turns political. This turnover events has serious repercussions for Evelyn as the mayor of Cleveland is her former lover whom she has not seen for a number of years and there are still some unresolved issues between them. Along with an insecure new homicide detective who appears determined to cause as much friction as possible and a boss who is too busy trying to cover his own back, Evelyn finds herself having to defend her integrity, deal with alleged mob connections, her daughter's well-being, and a pushy stepmother who seems determined to replace her in her daughter's life. For a debut novel TRACE EVIDENCE is an interesting read. However, it promises a lot more than it delivers and portrays which is a shame. The characters are interesting especially the daughter and Ms Becka does a superb job of describing the rather appealing if somewhat strained relationship between mother and daughter. To give credit where it is due her description of the anguish a parent has to cope with while looking after a daughter and juggling a full-time stress-full high profile job cannot be faulted. However, there were several things about TRACE EVIDENCE that let it down. This is supposed to be a suspenseful novel. If this is true then I must have become too blase in my reading habits. I could not find anything suspenseful about it whatsoever. I kept on waiting for the suspense to build but there wasn't any. The relationship between the mayor and Evelyn was left in limbo and one can only hope that information is a lot more forthcoming in the subsequent books. Most readers don't mind the main protagonist having romance in their lives, but in this case, the romantic element in this novel appears to have been an afterthought and rushed. What romantic overtones there are appear to be one-sided and unquestionably not mutual. From that point, the ending appeared to be quite contrived. This certainly wasn't the page-turner that I was anticipating and I was sorely disappointed. If Ms Becka is planning to join the likes of Ms Cornwall and Ms Reichs then she is going to have to step up another gear. Would I read the next book in the series? Possibly, but without too much haste on my part. Sadly, this book does not live up to expectations. TRACE EVIDENCE could have been a lot more than it turned out to be.
Reviewed by Ayo Onatade, May 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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