The Dark Circle
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From award-winning author Robert J. Mrazek, ex-army officer Jake Cantrell embarks on a harrowing journey, unraveling the conspiracy behind an opioid epidemic and strange disappearances in upstate New York. Jake Cantrell tried to put his past behind him and settle down after suffering an unjust disgrace as an army officer. He works as a campus security officer at a small college in upstate New York. But things aren’t so placid in his leafy new environs. A mass opioid crisis threatens to devastate the campus. When two football players on the new drug attack Jake with bats, Jake is fired for the excessive force he has to use to subdue them. Newly unemployed, Jake is retained by Lauren Kennsiton, the editor of the Groton Journal, to find missing college student Deborah Chapman, a gifted young jazz vocalist who has performed at Carnegie Hall. Along with Bug, the eighteen-year-old wolf hound he saved in Afghanistan, Jake sets out on the search. Battling street gangs, nefarious secrets, and an enigmatic group called the Knights, Jake is set for a brutal showdown that could mean Deborah's rescue--or Jake's demise. Fans of Robert J. Mrazek's award-winning thrillers are in for a non-stop ride into the abyss with the second installment in his critically acclaimed series.
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2 primary books#2 in Jake Cantrell Mystery
Jake Cantrell Mystery is a 2-book series with 2 released primary works first released in 2017 with contributions by Robert J. Mrazek.
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The Dark Circle by Robert J. Mrazekash
Jake takes on the task of working in campus security and loses the job after a rash of students take a new designer drug turns the co-eds into crazed lunatics and Jake ends up being accused of assault against a pair of athletes.
Licking his wounds after his job loss, Jake gets put on retainer by Lauren Kennsiton, the editor of the Groton Journal, to help her find a musical prodigy who never came home.
The job is more than Jake bargained and the search for Deborah leads Jake down a dangerous path of drugs, sex trafficking, a corrupt police and a group that calls themselves.... The Knights.
When I got this book, I had no idea it was part of a series but the author did so well with back building from the previous book, that I didn't feel like there were any holes in the story and I didn't miss anything by starting with book 2.
Jake is a real man's man with a heart of gold and with his dog, Bug, they make quite the duo. Bug even goes so far as to invite a stray cat to live with them.
I found the blooming love story between him and Lauren to be very realistic and raw. It didn't overtake the storyline which I am seriously glad for.
I found the premise of the book very intriguing and it kept getting better and better. I am a conspiracy theorist by nature so watching Jake go down the rabbit hole was thrilling. The whole story was brilliantly woven into a spider web of corruption, drugs and sex trafficking and the players were hidden in plain sight! The power connections really breathed life into this book.
If you are a fan of mystery thriller series that packs a punch then this is the series for you!!
4.5 stars!! Thank you netgalley and Crooked Lane books for my free ARC book in exchange for my honest review.