Tracking Time

by Leslie Glass

Dutton, October, 2000.
Hardcover, 320 pages.
ISBN: 0525944699

Tracking Time by Leslie Glass

NYPD Detective April Woo has her hands full with her latest case. A bright young psychiatrist, Dr. Maslow Atkins, went out for his evening jog in Central Park, and hasn't been heard from since. April is out of her jurisdiction, but her instincts tell her that Maslow is still alive somewhere in the park. After a much-publicized K-9 search of the park fails to turn up Maslow, the full weight of the press and her superiors falls on Woo's small but sturdy shoulders. As she investigates further, April discovers that the only people who have knowledge of the doctor's disappearance are a disturbed young woman called Allegra, and two very spoiled, wealthy, sociopathic adolescents: Brandy and David. When another victim is found murdered in the park, April knows that time is running out to solve the case and to find Maslow Atkins alive.

This is one cop series which just keeps getting better and better. April Woo is a fascinating woman of many contradictions. Raised in Queens by her formidable traditional Chinese mother (Skinny Dragon to April) and her quiet, chef father, April is torn between her American upbringing and her mother's wishes (well, demands really) that she marry a nice Chinese doctor and settle down to have lots of children. Despite her diminutive size, she's a tough cop -- and a smart one. Tracking Time is an edge-of-your-seat suspense thriller; the precocious and sociopathic teens Brandy and David are chilling, especially in light of the Columbine massacre and other current events which show that clearly there are more that clearly there are more than a few disturbed and violent teens in our society today. April's love interest, Mexican American NYPD Detective Mike Sanchez, is a compelling and likeable character, and Skinny Dragon always provides some welcome comic relief with her impossible demands and bizarre superstitions. If you haven't made the acquaintance of April Woo, by all means do so. Highly recommended.

--Claire E. White

Tracking Time is available for purchase on Amazon.com

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This review was published in the March, 2001 of The Internet Writing Journal.