First published 1990
Private investigator Simeon Grist takes on a case that pulls him into Los Angeles' darkest corners. A young girl named Aimee Sorrell has vanished from the streets, snatched by predators who traffic children into prostitution. Grist follows leads through the city's seedy underbelly, where runaways disappear and innocence gets sold to the highest bidder. The detective must navigate a world of pimps, corrupt cops, and desperate kids while racing against time to find Aimee before she becomes another casualty. As Grist digs deeper into the case, he confronts the brutal reality of how children get exploited in a system designed to protect them. The investigation tests not only his detective skills but his ability to maintain hope in the face of systematic cruelty. Hallinan crafts a story that exposes the harsh truth about child exploitation while following one man's determination to save a single life from the machine that destroys so many others.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: race-against-time, uncovering-corruption
Setting: Los Angeles
352 pages · Hardcover · New American Library
Content warnings: child-abuse, sexual-assault, trafficking