I am evidently reading the Cassie Dewell series in the most chaotic way possible, because I’m three books in and have only just finished #1. The Highway introduces Cassie Dewell, a sheriff’s inspector working in Montana who has been manipulated by her boss (said sheriff) into exposing her partner Cody Hoyt as a cop who is willing to get his hands dirty in a good cause. Specifically, planting evidence in a location not to convict someone, but to attract more attention to said location so that real evidence will be found. Although Cody is suspended and presumed fired once the paperwork is put in motion, his son anxiously reports that his sort of girlfriend has just disappeared in the middle of nowhere. When Cody asks Cassie for help, the two stumble into a case involving a serial-killer/abuser who operates from a freight truck — and he’s not alone. The Highway is an exciting story of flawed people trying to find justice in a world of far more flawed people and outright monsters, though some of its details are into “Yeah, no, I don’t want these images in my head” territory.

The Highway is a mix of the interesting and the abhorrent: the interesting chiefly lies in Cassie and her partner Cody’s relationship, because he’s an extremely able and gung-ho officer who unfortunately shoots cases and his career in the foot in his drive to pin the bad guy. He manages to be sympathetic even despite his abuses of the law, in large part because he’s a straightforward guy — a working class dad with a fire for justice, and a passion for protecting people that takes him into the boonies searching for lost kids even when he’s suspended (or fired) without pay. Cassie is the new kid on the block, self-doubting because she’s regarded as a diversity hire — and when she tries to be a stickler, she unwittingly becomes a tool of her and Cody’s boss, the sheriff, to establish a case for firing her own partner. Angry and ashamed of this, she and Cody both go out on a limb to protect the innocent when he gets a call from his son that there are two missing teenage girls. When Cody himself goes missing during the investigation, it’s all down to Cassie. There is also, however, the abhorrent: the big bad is a trucker who calls himself The Lizard King, and he has a habit of preying on vulnerable young women (particularly truck stop prostitutes, ‘lot lizards’), who wind up dead after he’s had his way with them. In the course of this story, the Lizard King runs across two teenage girls whose driving irritates him, and when the driver’s irresponsibility leads to their being stranded in the middle of nowhere, he takes the opportunity. We get some viewpoint chapters from them, and while it’s not outright graphic, the setting and suggestiveness are more than enough for things to feel reprehensible.

I enjoyed this story with the exception of the Lizard King’s sick ruminations on what he was going to do to his ‘prey’: Cassie and Cody were both sympathetic characters and the ending was ultimately satisfying. In keeping with my chaotic read of this series, I’m going to read the most recent one next, followed by the prequel, and then finally I’ll read #4 where the Lizard King meets his just reward.

Quotes:

Isabel said, “He’s the awful misogynist redneck you work with?”
Cassie nodded, surprised by the half-smile pulling at her mouth. “He’s not a misogynist, necessarily,” she said. “He hates everyone equally.