Review: One Split Second (Tracy Crosswhite, #12) by Robert Dugoni

                                                                       

Print Length: 413 pages

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (September 15, 2026)

From Goodreads.com:  Detective Tracy Crosswhite is assigned to defend an old friend. Sheriff Jenny Almond has been charged with first-degree murder for shooting an unarmed veteran on a stormy night of confusion, paranoia, and split-second choices. Tracy is certain there’s more to the story of Anthony Alvarez’s killing—and her investigation draws her back to a cold case that still haunts the community.

More than forty years ago, Alvarez was the prime suspect in the unsolved disappearance of a teenage babysitter. The lead investigator, Jenny’s late father Buzz Almond, always believed Alvarez had been framed. Decades later, his suspicions of a conspiracy are driving Tracy to find answers. Digging deeper into both the past and the present, she discovers a complex web of sinister motives and long-buried secrets, unearthed one by one.

As a decades-old mystery casts its dark shadow on a small town, only the truth will finally set the innocent free.

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My Rating: 3 stars out of 5

I'm starting to wonder if this series has finally begun to run its course (for me at least).

That's not to say there's anything particularly wrong with this installment because there really isn't. It's still a solid story, and I can absolutely see longtime fans enjoying it more than I did. But ever since Tracy transferred to the cold case unit, these books have slowly started to lose some of the spark that made me fall in love with the series in the first place. Part of that comes down to the supporting cast. In the earlier books, they helped make the stories feel well-rounded, but now we rarely see any of them. As a result, the books have become almost entirely centered on Tracy, and unfortunately, she's becoming harder and harder for me to relate to.

With each new installment, she feels more like a "Mary Sue" than an actual detective. She never seems to make a mistake, and somehow she's always the one to notice the crucial piece of evidence that every other investigator overlooked (even when some of those clues seem painfully obvious). Time and again, she's able to solve cases that have remained unsolved for decades, and after a while it starts to feel a little too convenient.

Another issue for me was the mystery itself. By about the halfway point (if not a little sooner), I was fairly confident I'd figured out who was responsible for what happened to Jackie back in the 1980s. Once I landed on that conclusion, the rest of the investigation lost a lot of its suspense because I spent the second half of the book waiting for everyone else to catch up.

One thing I did appreciate, though, was the heavier focus on the courtroom proceedings. That was a refreshing change of pace from the usual investigation heavy formula. That said, I couldn't help wondering why Dan seemed to walk into such an important trial without what I'd consider a solid game plan. He didn't appear to have the concrete evidence he needed, nor even the results of a critical DNA test that should have played a major role in the case. In the end, it felt like his defense of Jenny succeeded more through sheer luck than preparation, thanks to a last-minute revelation from someone largely disconnected from the main story (and, of course, Tracy managing to pull off yet another near-miraculous discovery).

Overall, while this wasn't one of my favorite installments in the series, it was still an enjoyable enough read. I think longtime fans will probably get more out of it than I did, and despite my criticisms, I haven't given up on Tracy Crosswhite just yet. If the premise of the next book grabs my attention, I'll almost certainly be back for another case.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.