The Park Trilogy, Books 1-3

By: C. J. Booth

Narrated by: James Romick

The Park Trilogy (Olive Park, Crimson Park, Angel Park)

1997.

In the dark woods of Olive Park, in the hills above Sacramento, a California Highway Patrol officer stumbles over a gnarled branch.

But it isn’t a branch.

It is an arm. Reaching up from a shallow grave.

And clutched in the small, desperate hand is a single quarter.

So begins one of the most exhaustive investigations in California history. Yet even with their massive resources, State and Federal authorities fail to find any trace of the killer. After two long years, the case goes cold.

15 years later.

The newly formed Ongoing Investigation Division charged with solving cold cases is unceremoniously handed its first case - The Olive Park Murders.

Detectives Stan Wyld and Jake Steiner, together with assistant Mallory Dimante, reopen the Olive Park case and find nothing new, until their examination of the original burial site turns up one chilling piece of evidence that proves Olive Park is no longer just a cold case.

The truth is much worse. The killer has never stopped and had already picked the next victim when Steiner, Wyld, and Dimante risk all to save the two intended victims, Michael and Jesse Cooper, two children who uncovered the deadly secret of Olive Park.

Following their spectacular success in solving California’s worst serial killer case, a case that had languished unsolved for 15 years, Sacramento’s newly formed cold-case division detectives - Stan Wyld and Jake Steiner with I.T. expert Mallory Dimante - find themselves the toast of the town. Anxious to move on from the rampant publicity, they take on a simple missing person case.

But their search for missing Hollywood film director James Marston pitches them headlong back into the malevolent world of serial killer Ruby Everheart - and into the lives of the killer’s last intended victims, 14 year old Michael and his younger sister Jessie Cooper – two kids who unknowingly possess a secret that will ensnare everyone in a deadly game of cat and mouse with an evil far worse than Ruby Everheart.

Detectives Stan Wyld, Jake Steiner and Mallory Dimante struggle to unravel the mystery of the murder and dismemberment of Hollywood film director James Marston but all they find are more mysteries....

Why has Anna Chase, an 11-year-old middle-schooler living in a small town in New Jersey, seemingly partnered with Ilsa Pokovich, a 50 year-old California felon, to commit murder?

Why has the original detective on the Olive Park case remained quiet all these years?

And why does the answer to everything seem to lie in a stuffed bear rescued from the burned-out trailer of serial killer Ruby Everheart?

What Wyld, Steiner and Dimante find propels them back into a treacherous and dark past. It shakes what they think they know about who they can trust and who they believe. And it forces them into a lethal showdown, protecting Michael and Jessie Cooper…and themselves, from Ruby Everheart’s terrifying teacher.

Angel Park crackles with insistent, heart-stomping energy as it plummets toward a conclusion that will exact a devastating human toll on one of the three detectives of Sacramento, California’s cold case division. It is Wyld, Steiner and Dimante’s ultimate test, for the depravity of serial killer Ruby Everheart pales against the evil they must now confront...and kill.

©2020 C.J. Booth (P)2020 C.J. Booth

Not just a murder mystery

I enjoyed getting to know all of the characters over 55 hours. Lots of time for character development. Some good twists and turns in the story. A bittersweet ending, but not unexpected.

Truth prevails

Great books, without the usual happy ending where everyone good lives and the Evil die, makes the story much more relevant !

Outstanding Trilogy!

I very much enjoyed the entire story throughout the three books. I did however keep thinking that Jessie Cooper was my least favorite character, then I would remind myself that she was only six and seven during these events. And that you cannot expect a 6 or 7 year old to always do what they are told, like be quiet or run when they are told to run!

Excellent trilogy

The beginning of the Olive Park was long , tedious and confusing but I was glad I was rewarded with everything being tied neatly together. I listened to this over every available moment and finished in 3 days. It was a riveting listen. Looking forward to more books by this author

The kids made it really good.

The story from M’s point of view was believable and exciting. The tension was real. The characters were very enjoyable.