Leave No Trace by A.J. Landau

A bright sunny weekend in NYC is rocked when the base of the Statue of Liberty explodes. The eventual death toll will climb over 700. Michael Walker, on the National Park Service’s Investigative Service Branch (or is it Bureau?) is whisked to NY from his base in the Smokies. As the Statue of Liberty is under the jurisdiction of the NPS, he figures to be among the lead investigators. Upon arrival, he’s told in no uncertain terms that the Joint Terrorism Task Force is running the show under Agent Gina Delgado.  

Pushed aside at the site, Michael inspects the devastation finding a 15yo boy lost in shock. Michael tries to comfort the young man who’s probably just lost his family in the explosion. While trying to help the boy to regain his senses, the boy points out that a retired harbor patrol boat had been just off the island’s shore and appeared to be recording video – the kid knew his boats. Seeing this, he then started recording the boat right up until the explosion.

Michael realizes he may have a witness with video and places the kid under park service guard to get him to a hospital. This pisses off Delgado as Mike made that decision without getting the OK from up the command chain. But it was a fortuitous decision, especially after Michael saves the kid from the terrorists while in the hospital and that the phone’s video provides valuable clues to the identity of the terrorists.

The chase is on. Find the perpetrators, see how far this plot reaches, and stop any further actions. The terrorists have a complex plan to shake the foundations of the public by attacking more and more national landmarks – next stop is Constitution Hall in Philadelphia.

Michael’s actions in NY convince Delgado that he’d be a valuable asset because of his knowledge of the park system so they head west attempting to catch up with the leadership behind the attacks.

If you choose to read this, buckle up for a blistering pace. One of the fastest paced books I’ve read in a long time and could easily have been a single-sitting read. And despite requiring the reader to suspend some manner of logic, it’s still a whale of a ride as this cat-mouse game jumps to Mt. Rainier, the Arch in St Louis, Zion National Park, the mountains of Colorado, secret compounds underneath Washington, DC, abandoned military bases, and dozens of other known and lesser-known locations in the country to the final confrontations in SD and OH. Be prepared for a bunch of subplots that help define the plot. Just make sure you go into this book knowing it’s a plot-base story and not character-based. We learn plenty about Michael and Delgado, but some might say what we learn just scratches the surface.

This is listed as being written by ‘AJ Landau’ but in reality is a joint effort of Jon Land and Jeff Ayers who write under the Landau pseudonym. And it looks like this is part 1 of a National Parks thriller series. As the national park system is perhaps the best thing our government ever did, I’m sure I’ll be looking for any future offerings by Landau.

Thanks to NetGalley for making the advance reviewer copy available. Publication date is 27 February 2024.

ECD