In the prologue, in 1991, female cadet Christina Barlow is gang raped by a group of male cadets sporting Disney character masks. They are never identified, the crime stays unsolved through the years and she is killed in a car accident, which to some was a questionable suicide.

Nathan Malone had been in Christina’s squadron - living across the hall, and like others was questioned. Wealthy Nathan, as a result of a lot of emotional baggage, managed to get himself kicked out of the Academy. Later he joined the Air Force and with a strange career path for an ex-Academy type ends up as a major and Commander of the Office of Special Investigations.

Currently, Nathan Malone is stationed at the Academy, but he is just one screw-up from a ticket out of OSI. Chapter One opens to find him in the drunk tank with a DWI pending. And he knows this is sufficient to make him history.

Instead Malone is reclaimed by an executive officer and taken to his archenemy General Crenshaw. To his great surprise, instead of being booted out by the General, he is assigned to work with a representative of Senator Smith’s office to investigate the plethora of rape charges surfacing. Smith has foisted his representative into it, demanding she be accorded full status as an investigator, not as an observing attorney.

Crenshaw caves and Kaitlin Barlow walks in. She is obviously Christina Barlow’s twin sister, which elicits all kinds of emotions to flood through the toughened Malone. Together they immediately respond to the scene of a crime. It is a double murder of two female cadet roommates.

Christina recognized one of the cadets because she had contacted Christina about being raped, a fact known only to her roommate and perhaps another.

Davis does a great job integrating Air Force Academy customs and setting into this story. His characters are complex, multi faceted individuals with varied agendas, and the interaction is credible and often amusing.

What is usual is the ordinary progression of the murder investigation, the very complicated plot, and the myriad of sub plots weaving their way through the investigation. Old connections are gradually disclosed, but each time the reader reaches the plateau of thinking he finally understands, he is confronted with yet another credible twist, as the death count continues to mount. The ultimate resolutions will stun even the most experienced mystery fan.

The Shattered Blue Line is strongly recommended.

--Thea Davis