Leave No Trace, A.J. Landau's debut, begins with the astonishing explosion of the Statue of Liberty, which kills more than 700 people and seriously injures hundreds more. In this series launch, Landau follows this heart-in-throat scene with nonstop action that allows for close attention to the solid characters.
Michael Walker, a special agent with the National Parks Service, and Gina Delgado, an FBI explosives expert, are among the first on the scene. This leads to the usual jurisdiction conflicts, exacerbated because Michael lacks high-level security clearance. There appear to be no clues as to who may be responsible. Then Michael finds a survivor, Danny Logan, a 15-year-old whose fascination with boats prompted him to capture video of a park police boat that likely had the terrorists aboard. Michael and Gina form a partnership that is at first hampered by rivalry between their agencies. A mutual respect soon grows as their individual skills lead them to a group out to destroy American landmarks.
Landau, a pseudonym for authors Jon Land and Jeff Ayers, invests the elaborate plot of Leave No Trace with insider views of several sites, such as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and, in a tense finale, South Dakota's Wind Cave. Realistic suspense permeates each chapter, including an uneasy scene in a hospital as Michael tries to protect Danny, and the parallel investigation of Lantry, a Lakota Sioux man who's also tracking the terrorists. The back stories of Michael and Gina add heft to Leave No Trace--and leave room for a much-needed sequel. --Oline H. Cogdill, freelance reviewer