FAR GONE starts with a bang when Austin police detective Andrea Finch has to confront an 18 year old thug while having dinner with the man she is currently dating. When things quickly begin to go disastrously wrong, Andrea is forced to shoot the young man to save the hostages he is holding. Killing the youth puts her on administrative leave while her actions are evaluated. While on her forced leave, Andrea receives a phone call from her younger brother asking for money. She soon discovers that Gavin has dropped out of college and taken up with a militant anti-government group currently holed up at a ranch near a west Texas border town.

Andrea drops everything, including her mandated hearings about the shooting, to rush off to confront her brother about his actions. Gavin is very knowledgeable about computers, and she is determined to get him out of trouble and back into college. When Andrea arrives, she finds a home-grown terrorist group using her brother to set up their computer system. Unable to get access to her brother, she is forced to stake out the ranch to try to find a way to reach her brother. What she finds is that Gavin is being held in thrall to a home-grown terrorist named Shay Hardin, who has an anti-American terrorist agenda. Gavin thinks he's doing something noble, and doesn't want to leave with his sister.

FBI special agent Jon North and his partner is also staking out the ranch. He believes the menacing leader of the group is not only planning a large scale terror attack; but that the man is behind a political murder six years previously. Unfortunately, Jon also believes Gavin to be part of the plot, leaving Andrea reluctantly forced to work with him while she tries to reach her brother and prove his innocence. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game with Hardin, the sinister mastermind of several terror plots and crimes; a villain who is fully aware he is being watched but thinks he is too smart to ever be caught. North is desperate to nail Hardin before the FBI pulls the plug on his case to move the agents to what they consider a more important case.

FAR GONE is a romantic suspense story that could be ripped from current headlines. Laura Griffin, well known for her popular Tracers series; has plotted an engrossing and believable tale of terror plots in the United States. FAR GONE is hopefully the beginning of a new series for Griffin, as there are a couple of FBI agents who look to have their own story. While there is some element of the Tracer series, such as a couple characters and mention of the Delphi Institute; this story stands completely on its own. FAR GONE is suspense at its best, and for any reader not familiar with Laura Griffin's work, a very good place to start reading her excellent stories.

Book Summary

To save her only brother, Andrea Finch must face down a criminal mastermind, the FBI, and her own demons in this thrilling novel from the author of the bestselling Tracers series.

Police detective Andrea Finch is a rising star in her department until a split-second decision derails her career. Disgraced and disillusioned, she’s on leave from her job when she gets an urgent call from her younger brother. She’d prefer to ignore his latest plea for cash, but this time instinct tells her something is very wrong. Andrea’s search for answers takes her to a dusty Texas border town where danger lurks in plain sight and nothing is quite what it seems.

FBI agent Jon North is working undercover in west Texas investigating an unsolved murder that may be linked to a broader plot. But when the evidence points to Andrea’s brother, Jon finds that persuading the stubborn cop to help will be harder than cracking his toughest case.

Andrea must find a way to do what’s right while protecting her only sibling. As the clock ticks down on a deadly plot, Andrea and Jon race to confront a heartless killer who will stop at nothing to deliver a final, terrifying message.