Bullet wounds heal, but a broken heart is something else entirely. Natalie McMasters is twenty-one, short and blonde (OK, it’s bleached), a way cute former stripper and a pre-law student at State. Nattie also works as a private detective at her uncle’s 3M detective agency. After her last case, in which she was nearly killed, she’s faced with a new, daunting challenge. She must trace the most … important person in her life – who doesn’t want to be found – through the squalid sexworld of New York City. Even with help from old and new friends, Natalie will need more persistence and courage than she’s ever shown before if she is to prevail in her most difficult and personal challenge. Trafficked! – A Natalie McMasters Mystery is full of the action, suspense, and unexpected plot twists that Nattie’s many fans thrive on. You totally won’t be disappointed!
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TRAFFICKED! will make your skin crawl, and, at the same time, it will demonstrate the value of loyalty and commitment to purpose. You may or may not have noticed that Natalie is surrounded by ex-Marines. In TRAFFICKED!, this becomes abundantly clear. They seem to be the counterpoint to her petite, 5’1″, 95-pound, frame.
I do hope that you are reading this series in order. Although there are no cliffhangers, one book does flow seamlessly into the next. If you haven’t, you might want to skip over this next bit as it contains a teeny, tiny spoiler. Natalie McMasters, along with being a bit of a hot head, is also a young woman at odds with her sexuality. In TRAFFICKED!, her fluid gender identity seems to come full circle.
Parts of this book will leave you emotionally raw when you stop to consider the vicious abuse of women portrayed here. I am finding that Thomas A. Burns, Jr. is good at plucking his readers out of their favorite reading place and putting them viscerally into the action. There were several sections that brought me to tears.
As difficult this book was to read, it presents subjects that are too often avoided in ‘polite company’ which only serves to foster abhorrent behavior. Although a work of fiction, you will find yourself better informed after reading it.
This third book in the Natalie McMasters Mystery Series by Thomas A Burns, Jr was definitely an emotionally grabbing story as Nattie attempts to find her wife Lupe in the big city of New York while also trying to keep herself alive. It is also a story about torn love as Nattie is struggling with her feelings for Danny as well as remembering she is married. There is plenty of action in their bed for her and Danny during their time in NYC which is only mentioned in passing and not described in any detail. There is also physical peril for the duo as well as forming an unlikely alliance with a homeless man called Irish. There is a heart-rending emotionally charged unfinished ending which I presume leads to book 4 in the series which I have eagerly added to my TBR. This is a voluntary review of this book.
The book Trafficked! is the third in the Natalie McMasters crime/mystery series. It’s heavy on the erotica as detective Nattie tries to find her runaway wife, Lupe, in NYC.
Then there’s Danny Merkel, a serious ex-Marine hunk who is so in love with Nattie that he puts his own life at risk to help her.
The sexual tension between Danny and Nattie adds to the many questions swirling around in Nattie’s head. In between trying to ditch an ICE agent looking for Lupe, dangerous run-ins with the Albanian mob and some outrageous pole dancing, Nattie is constantly wondering who she really loves, Lupe vs. Danny, girl vs. boy. And she is prone to crying. Not your typical hard-boiled detective.
The writing sagged a little with logistics, especially when wandering around NYC, whether in the subway or underground. But the author more than makes up for it with how well he tortures his characters. There were many times I just wanted to shake Natalie for making stupid choices. Of course, that would have ruined the storyline.
To me, the ending was flat because we left Nattie still questioning whom she really loves. But I suspect there’s a fourth book in the works.
This story will definitely work for readers who enjoy LGBTQ crime/mystery novels.