Fractured Truth

At the start of Furlong’s enthralling sequel to 2017’s Splintered Silence, Bone Gap, Tenn., Marine vet and new sheriff’s deputy Brynn Callahan and her human remains detection dog, Wilco, join the search for a mutilated body spotted by a cross-country skier in a cave off the Appalachian trail. Inside the cave, Brynn recognizes the victim as 17-year-old Maura Keene, a fellow Irish Traveller or Pavee, who has a curious stab wound in her chest. In the subsequent investigation, it’s up to Brynn to try to bridge the gap between the police and the Traveller community, who have a long history of mutual distrust. The stakes rise as the inquiry leads directly to a powerful family and even to her own community. The prickly Brynn is physically and emotionally scarred from her time in Iraq as part of the “bone patrol” working with Wilco to clear the dead from the battlefield. She often turns to pills and alcohol, but her desire to do the right thing is what drives her. Furlong pairs flawed, fascinating Brynn and her extraordinary dog with an emotionally resonant mystery. [em]Agent: Jessica Faust, BookEnds Literary. (Jan.) [/em]