The Journal

After winning a tennis tournament in Cincinnati, Jack Dantzler is approached by a man he once played against. The man wants to speak with Dantzler about a murder that occurred sixteen years ago. When Dantzler asks who the murder victim was, the man says it was his daughter, Jax. He wants Dantzler to look into finding Jax's killer. Dantzler is reluctant—cold cases are rarely ever solved—but he eventually relents and agrees to take the job. For Dantzler, knowing a killer might be walking free is unacceptable. As Dantzler begins digging into the case he learns that the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on the dead girl was murdered two years ago. Despite the lengthy gap between the two crimes, Dantzler becomes convinced they are related. To move things along, he enlists True Crime author Julie Bradley to help with research. This decision turns out to be a mistake—Julie's recklessness puts her life in immediate danger. Now Dantzler must protect Julie while also trying to solve a pair of homicides. For Dantzler, the key to success lies in finding Jax's journal. But when the journal is located, what Dantzler reads is both informative and disturbing. The dead girl's words describe a relationship that is dark, deadly and forbidden. They also put Dantzler on a twisted journey that brings him face-to-face with his own death. Suddenly, finding a killer is secondary to staying alive. As critics have previously noted, Tom Wallace has "created an entire cast of memorable characters without taking the focus off (Jack) Dantzler."