One Split Second

Disclaimer: Thanks to the publisher for gifting me a digital advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. 

I've been a fan of Robert Dugoni's for years and have read 21 of his books to date (making him my most read author). His popular Tracy Crosswhite police procedural series is one of my go-to suspense series.

In this twelfth installment of the series, Tracy comes to the aid of her long-time friend Jenny Almond when the small-town sheriff is charged with first-degree murder. With Tracy's police and cold case expertise, she'll will do whatever it takes to clear her friend's name.

Blending a decades-old missing person cold case that Jenny's sheriff father investigated with the current murder case, Tracy has her work cut out for her as the interim sheriff and some locals try to keep long-held secrets buried. 

Dugoni successfully weaves the current investigation with flashbacks to the cold case as readers see them come together. His legal background is evident in the well-described courtroom scenes with Tracy's husband Dan at the helm. It was  also nice to see Sam Goldman from previous books but I missed seeing Tracy's former police colleagues - Kins, Faz and Del - who always add great humour and support for Tracy.

This police procedural with a side of legal thriller has a healthy dose of small-town corruption and will keep readers eager to see Tracy help solve current and decades-old mysteries.

My Rating: 4 stars

Author: Robert Dugoni

Genre: Suspense

Series: Tracy Crosswhite 12

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

First Published: Sept 15, 2026

Read: Sept 5-11, 2026

Book Description from GoodReads: A girl’s unsolved disappearance. A tragic shooting. Two crimes, forty-five years apart, with a blood-chilling connection in a gripping new Tracy Crosswhite novel by New York Times bestselling author Robert Dugoni.

Detective Tracy Crosswhite is assigned to defend an old friend. Sheriff Jenny Almond has been charged with first-degree murder for shooting an unarmed veteran on a stormy night of confusion, paranoia, and split-second choices. Tracy is certain there’s more to the story of Anthony Alvarez’s killing—and her investigation draws her back to a cold case that still haunts the community.

More than forty years ago, Alvarez was the prime suspect in the unsolved disappearance of a teenage babysitter. The lead investigator, Jenny’s late father Buzz Almond, always believed Alvarez had been framed. Decades later, his suspicions of a conspiracy are driving Tracy to find answers. Digging deeper into both the past and the present, she discovers a complex web of sinister motives and long-buried secrets, unearthed one by one.

As a decades-old mystery casts its dark shadow on a small town, only the truth will finally set the innocent free.