Last year when I first read Laura Griffin I immediately put her on my must read author list. Then I found out that she was going to be releasing a trilogy this year and was very excited. What I didn't realize was that Alex Lovell the main character in Untraceable was introduced to readers in a previous title, and by my not having read that title I might be missing some things that would have better explained to me how and why Alex is the way she is in Untraceable.

Unfortunately I don't know which previous title by Ms. Griffin introduces readers to Alex, so I shan't dwell on that, but move forward with Untraceable. In Untraceable Alex has established herself as a private investigator in Austin, Texas and while she does her fair share of insurance claims, she also has a reputation for helping women hide from abusive spouses...much like her own Witness Protection Program. Alex's trouble begins when Melanie, the latest person she has helped to "disappear" comes back. Alex desperately wants to know why Melanie is back, and to help her hide again but in order to do that she needs Melanie's cooperation, and at this point Melanie is anything but cooperative.

Every private investigator needs some sources, and one of the sources that Alex uses is Nathan Devereaux, a member of the Austin Police Department. When Alex approaches him wanting him to believe that Melanie is missing, and in her mind not only dead, but murdered by one of the most respected officers of the department Nathan is hesitant to believe her. However, as the story unwinds, and he begins to connect dots between some cold cases of murder, and a new case he begins to wonder if Alex is in more danger by attempting to locate and help Melanie than she can truly know.

As I said earlier, there must be a bit of history that I've missed between Alex, Nathan, and perhaps even Troy Stockton, a former boyfriend of Alex's and her connection to a place called The Delphi Center to which both she and Nathan have turned to for help in their various cases, and which finally allows Nathan to believe that their cases could be connected, and the danger at a level no one would like to contemplate.

I found UNTRACEABLE to be a bit of a convoluted story, and will admit to not having large chunks of time to read daily. Perhaps if I had been able to read in a larger time frame each day and in a short period of time overall I would have pieced the story together more readily than I did. There are many characters, and a thread or two left loose, but since it's the first book in a trilogy I will assume that we will see more character development and resolution as the series continues.

Overall even though I had a hard time truly liking UNTRACEABLE there were moments I wanted nothing more than to lose myself in the pages, and I do have Ms. Griffin's complete backlist on my shelf and will read them because I do believe I will see her developing her talent and becoming one of my favorite romantic suspense authors of the year.