“Just another run-of-the-mill weekend in Jasper, Idaho.”

Leslie Marshman’s installment in the K-9s on Patrol mini series is simply a pleasure to read. The characters are engaging, the storyline engrossing and the pup adorable. My favorite so far! ( )

This was a gripping tale that kept me hooked from start to finish. The book opens with a man driving his truck through a storm faster than was prudent in that weather. Unsurprisingly, he hydroplanes and leaves the road, his truck rolling over and over. He struggles to escape and nearly gets caught in a mudslide, all while his mind yells at him that there is danger. He almost makes it back to the road before he collapses.

The next morning Marie and her dog Astrid are out for a run. Marie thinks about her life for the past five years, far away from the trouble that put her in witness protection. While she never stops looking over her shoulder, she has made a few friends, even though they don't know everything about her. Marie is stunned when Astrid finds an unconscious man who is moments away from drowning in a drainage ditch.

The man, known only as Jack, suffers from amnesia thanks to his injuries. He remembers nothing about his life, from who he is to why he was on that road. The only thing he has going for him is his gut feeling that he is supposed to be in Jasper and that it has something to do with Marie. She is horrified when he comments on her hair, fearing that he is there because of her. She's relieved when the doctor plans to send him to a city hospital where he can get better help.

Marie is determined to stay away from Jack until he leaves. But fate, and Jack, have other plans. Jack refuses to leave Jasper, believing that the answers to his past are linked to the town and Marie. She is deeply suspicious of him and his sudden appearance. Jack takes a job at the canine academy, which keeps him in Marie's orbit. She spends a lot of time there as a veterinarian, and exposure to Jack leaves her torn. Something about him stirs up feelings she's buried for years, but prudence tells her to keep him at a distance.

Jack recognizes that Marie is skittish and suspects that she's hiding something. He hopes that being around her will awaken his memories. But when he gets flashes of his past, they leave him wondering if he's a good or bad guy. As he and Marie spend time together, they grow closer, and Marie starts feeling more comfortable in his presence. Then a news story about an escaped prisoner sends her into a panic, worried that her past is about to rear its ugly head. Her suspicions are reawakened by the coincidence of Jack's arrival at about the same time as the prisoner's escape.

The story is full of twists and turns as Marie struggles with her growing feelings for Jack and her worry that he isn't the nice guy he appears to be. News that the escaped prisoner is headed in her direction, combined with suspicious accidents, keeps Marie on edge. The kayaking scene is intense and nerve-wracking as the fun excursion she and Jack planned turns deadly, and she fears his intentions. A timely discovery puts those fears to rest, but the threat from her past is still out there. When the final confrontation came, I was glued to the pages until it was all over. ( )