**MINOR SPOILERS**
This is book is the first in the Bannon Brothers trilogy. This book can be read as a standalone. The main characters for the next two books are introduced.
RJ is on extended leave from the police force in a small town because he was shot in the line of duty. When he visits the police station, he speaks to a co-worker who is putting cold case paperwork on a computer for easy access. He coincidentally sees a cold case about a missing child, Ann, that was abducted almost 20 years prior and that the money offered for a reward is about to revert back to her father. He decides to look into it. As the story goes on, he knows that Ann’s father, Hugh, has lost most of his money in a downturn in the hedge market. That information would not have been available in the cold case files as it is a more recent development. How he knew this was not explained.
Most of the book is told form RJ’s point of view but a few scenes are told from the point of view of others. He comes across as a decent man. He and his brothers are close. He speaks to his mother every day which seemed like a bit of a surprise. Most people call him Bannon including his brothers which I thought was a little odd.
That the missing woman is alive and who she is quite a coincidence and I thought that there needed to be more work to find her.
The story had many facets which made it interesting. Because there were so many, a few felt like they were underdeveloped. While you become fairly certain you know why the kidnappers took Ann, it was never confirmed. Also, the female kidnapper wrote to Hugh but why she did so was not explained. I thought the relationship between Erin and RJ could have been developed more.
Several of the characters in the book are somewhat unlikeable. Hugh, Ann’s father, is a crook and the author mentions this but focuses more on the fact that he misses her daughter. Truthfully, I am not sure his financial schemes needed to be part of the storyline. The chief of police was on the take and works with a hacker and an ex-con to try to extort money. It was unclear why the ex-con, Cutt, watched Erin. Hugh’s significant other, Caroline, was a gold digger who thinks that he still has money.
I have sympathy for the shooting that RJ lived through, but I was surprised that he was not asked to come back to work in two years. I think he could have been at a desk job at the least.
The title had a double meaning, RJ and Erin had to trust each other, but the money set aside for Erin’s return was put in a trust that was about to expire.
I read this book more than 10 years after it was written and women were frequently referred to as girls which is a dated reference. In addition, RJ does not tell Erin that he suspects that she is the missing daughter until well into the book. He also believes that she is not safe but does not give her full disclosure. I thought he should have done so for her own safety. He does tell her eventually. Her reaction to finding out who she is, in my opinion, overly dramatic as she beats him on the chest for several minutes while crying.
When RJ is first thinking about the abduction, he knows that it is unlikely that Ann is still alive. He remembers what he learned in his training about child abduction and remembers being told “child predators wanted sex”. It should be described as rape in my humble opinion.
RJ gets a trained dog to watch over Erin when he is not there. The dog was great.
I bought the first two books in the series at the same time so I plan to read the second book. Otherwise, I might not have done so. I think the book could have been shorter.