Police woman Andrea Brady finds a German Shepherd who becomes her best friend and partner. Her life is upended when she is forced to defend them from a surprise attack by a teen from down the street. The turmoil reveals all the cracks in her life but the healing brins her to a much better life. ( )

Yes, I picked this book because of the cover. I am not exactly sure what genre this fits into. It is a detective/K-9 story but there is a mystery, a bit or romance and a lot of self-doubt and deprecation. Andrea is a hard working police detective who works with her K-9 dog, Justice. Justice showed up at her home two years earlier and she worked with him to train him to become a drug sniffing dog. One night when they return home, Justice takes off barking into the woods beside their home. With a high pitched shriek, Justice is stabbed and the person who did it comes after Andrea. She has to protect herself and make a split second decision. Andrea's life is about to change big time because the attacker was a teenager and neighbor, and she is now being charged with murder in the media and the public. Andrea is relieved of duty while Tom, a deputy sheriff, investigates the event to see if it is a justified shooting or not.

The story alternates between Andrea and Tom's point of view. The neighbor who she barely knew stabbed Justice before charging at her with his knife, and she doesn't understand why he would have done this. Then we have to deal with the reality that is the public and the media, the human rush to judgement. With a few keystrokes, the press has Andrea as the perpetrator and the attacker is now the victim. Even the shell-shocked Andrea has her doubts and questions her reaction. Tom worked very hard to remain fair and unbiased, even though there was some history between them. I felt so bad for Andrea. She had so much doubt about her actions and whether or not she made the right decision. She was also heartbroken about the injuries to Justice. She was a good cop, who worked hard to do what is right and she has her heart ripped out. This book brings up a lot of questions about the media and how they spin popular opinion. The issue of victim and perpetrator and who decides which role is which. Death by cop or abuse of power by police officers. There are a lot of things to think about in this book, one that I felt was not really dealt with is the fact that as a K-9, Justice is a police officer, yet that did not seem to be a factor in the unravelling of the shooting. I really enjoyed the story and just wished there were some things addressed after the conclusions found by the investigation. The publisher, Kensington Publishing, generously provided me with a copy of this book upon my request. The rating, opinions and ideas shared are my own. ( )