Brutally attacked 11 years previous, Kate Megason has dedicated her life to putting violent men behind bars. As the youngest up-and-coming Assistant District Attorney in Dallas, Kate is in the perfect position to accomplish her goals. The DA has just given her a high profile capital murder case that will take her places if she wins. Kate sets up her team of experts, but the DA demands she also accept an investigator, one Frank Matrone. Reluctantly, Kate agrees.

Frank, a retired 12-year veteran police officer, lives with excruciating pain. He almost lost his leg during an explosion while in the military reserves. The blast killed the woman he loved and left Frank with not only physical scars, but emotional ones, as well. A man with good gut instincts, but blindly dismissive of the fact he's addicted to painkillers, Frank finds a reason in Kate to turn his life back toward the living.

Someone knows about the horror in Kate's past and uses it to get to her. Kate doesn't know if it's the man she's been searching for the past 11 years or someone else. What she does know is that she fears facing the past, and the danger is escalating daily. Kate has no avenue other than to confide in Frank as his persistence and the state of events wears her down.

Having already read one of Linda Castillo's previous books, I knew I was in for a few hours of excitement and graphically chilling prose. She pulls me into the scene. I fear for the victims. I feel the danger shrouding them as the evil approaches. And I cheer for the victorious good overcoming evil. DEAD RECKONING opens the window to real issues in our society and the limitless measures evil people will expend in order to accomplish their crimes. Castillo's stories always have a place on my bookshelf.