The Reckoning - (Renata Drake Thriller) by Kelli Stanley (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

SHE KILLED A MAN.

HE DESERVED IT.

BUT JUSTICE ISN'T YET DONE.

First in an explosive new thriller series set in the eighties from the author of the critically acclaimed Miranda Corbie series introduces the fierce feminist Renata Drake--on the run from the FBI for the execution-style murder of her little sister's killer.

"Vivid and haunting. I'm eager to hear more from the tenacious and resourceful Renata Drake" Meg Gardiner, #1 New York Times bestselling author

California, Southern Humboldt County, 1985.
Renata Drake steps off a Greyhound bus and into small-town Garberville, hoping to disappear. She checks the papers. She's not headline news. Not yet.

But she's made a mistake. The FBI have the cannabis-producing "Emerald Triangle" town-- and its corrupt residents--in their sights. Even worse, a teenage girl is missing, and when she turns up dead, the third in three years, it's clear a serial killer is living among them.

Renata knows about murdered girls and the burning desire for justice--and for revenge. Her younger sister Josie is gone, and now, so is the man who killed her. Renata didn't stay in Washington, D.C. to be arrested for executing a murderer, and she shouldn't stay here either. But Renata decides to investigate, and what she uncovers will trigger a final reckoning: For herself, for a killer, and for all of Southern Humboldt.

This powerful, page-turning thriller explores the human cost of corruption and the psychological toll that violence takes on women.

Review Quotes

Stanley does a fantastic job of immersing the reader in the world of 1985, and . . . balances the intense suspense with insight into a young woman's experience before the #MeToo movement, domestic abuse laws, and Obergefell. Fans of the Peacock series Poker Face should definitely give this a try-- "First Clue"

A real page-turner-- "Booklist"

Kelli Stanley's atmospheric mystery immerses us in a land of beauty, crime, and danger. Set during the unsettling era of 1980s west coast serial killers, the story is vivid and haunting. I'm eager to hear more from the tenacious and resourceful Renata Drake-- "Meg Gardiner, #1 New York Times bestselling author"

[This is] literature as much as crime fiction . . . The writing is beautiful and evocative-- "Deadly Pleasures on City of Dragons"

A darkly beautiful work, one of the best to be published so far this year-- "Bookreporter on City of Ghosts"

Engrossing historical fiction-- "Associated Press on City of Ghosts"

It's neonoir in a classical five-act structure, starring one of crime's most arresting heroines-- "Library Journal Starred Review of City of Secrets"

Outstanding . . . A superb series-- "South Florida Sun-Sentinel on City of Secrets"

Stanley has a distinctive writing style, conveying thoughts and ambience with poetic brush strokes-- "Boston Globe on City of Secrets"

Stanley's fine mystery . . . treats the reader-- "Publishers Weekly on City of Sharks"

Stunning-- "Publishers Weekly Starred Review of City of Dragons"

The vigor and pace of a terrific Warner Bros. film noir-- "The Wall Street Journal on City of Ghosts"