Labuskes (Gretchen White series) opens her terrifying joyride into cybercrime in 2023 with two murders in a Washington State town. When a gruesome video is posted to a social media site and spotted by moderator Delaney, she notifies the FBI. Quickly, the team connects what appear to be copycat killings to three violent deaths back in 1998 in the same town. FBI forensic linguist Raisa Susanto is on the case, studying the writings and speech patterns of suspects, while Delaney uses her professional searching skills to pinpoint bad actors through their web rantings. In her quest for internet stardom, podcaster Jenna insinuates herself into the team. Looping together the murders with the hidden links among the three women, Labuskes imagines how a murderer might use the internet to kill as effectively as a sharpshooter uses a weapon and introduces an academic linguist able to track a criminal’s idiolects like cops use fingerprints to identify a perpetrator.
VERDICT Women pathologists (Patricia Cornwell) and forensic anthropologists (Elly Griffiths) have starred in recent mysteries that appeared on best-of-the-year lists. Through her terrific new heroine, Labuskes has the fire and smarts to join them on the award dais.
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