Gone Forever
Gone Forever is book 5 in the Lassiter/Martinez Case Files crime thriller series by Joseph Badal. It follows Albuquerque homicide detectives Barbara Lassiter and Susan Martinez as a terrorist attack and two high-profile murders seem to be separate cases but as the two start investigating, the cases start to overlap. One case points toward and killer targeting the innocent, while the other involves two Afghan immigrants, both former U.S. Army allies, who leave dead gang members behind. The story takes place in the high desert of New Mexico, and the investigation brings together murder, trafficking, the pressure from the above to solve the cases, and vigilante justice. But can Lassiter and Martinez solve a case where the line between villain and victim is not always clear?
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In the high-desert of New Mexico, two detectives are about to learn that “gone” is more than a word—it’s a permanent state of being. For the victims, it’s the end of a heartbeat. For the survivors, it’s the end of the world as they knew it. When a terrorist attack and then two high profile murders rock Albuquerque, Detectives Barbara Lassiter and Susan Martinez find themselves chasing a shadow that leaves no trail. Then the challenge of the case only grows when two immigrants who fought with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan leave a trail of dead members of a gang trafficking drugs and young women. But as the investigations deepen, the cases intertwine, carrying the detectives into a darkness that threatens to swallow them whole. In Joseph Badal’s 20th novel, and the fifth in the Lassiter/Martinez Case Files series, the cost of the truth is higher than ever.
To solve one case, Lassiter and Martinez must identify a killer who not only takes lives, but also preys on the innocence of others. In the other case, the killers are illusive as spirits, who prey on the evilest among us. Their job in both cases is made even more difficult as the line between villain and hero becomes blurred. Amidst the tension of murder investigations and bureaucratic interference, the enduring partnership between two of fiction’s most resilient female detectives provides the only light in the dark. A masterclass in suspense. Joseph Badal returns with his most haunting Lassiter/Martinez thriller yet. GONE FOREVER isn’t just about the lives we lose—it’s about the innocence we can never claw back. In the desert, secrets don’t stay buried; they just turn to dust.”
Part of the The Lassiter/Martinez Case Files series – see the full reading order on the Joseph Badal Books in Order page.
