Format: Hardcover, 400 pages
Release Date: November 16, 2021
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Source: Mulholland Books
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
Things are looking up for Detective Betty Rhyzyk. She’s been promoted to Sergeant in the Dallas Police
Department. But when a hostage stand-off puts her on the phone with
legendary cartel leader The Knife, things take a turn. The Knife has
heard a rival is making a play for the streets of Dallas—none other than
Evangeline Roy. The matriarch of a ruthless cult, Evangeline also
happens to hold a personal vendetta against Betty. So who better to draw
Evangeline out of hiding? Betty’s got two weeks to catch her. Or else.
With
Betty’s young charge Mary Grace already missing—having left her
seven-month-old baby behind in Betty’s care—and the drug dealers of
Dallas donning strange red wigs and delivering cryptic messages, Betty’s
in a race for answers. With the clock ticking down, it will take
everything she’s got to finally put an end to Evangeline’s reign of
terror, and to keep her beloved Dallas—and her own family—safe at last.
The Pledge is the third and final installment in author Kathleen Kent's Betty Rhyzyk trilogy. Things are looking up for Betty Rhyzyk. She’s been promoted to Detective Sergeant in the Dallas Police Narcotics Department. She now has her own team including a transplant with an attitude from Chicago. She's in a stable relationship with Dr. Jackie Nesbitt that has managed to last 10 years even with all the ups and downs and experiences of the past year and living in Texas. She's even helping to raise a baby, Elizabeth, belonging to a young woman, Mary Grace, who she rescued from the streets.
After Mary Grace and her baby disappear along with the woman hired to watch over the child, Betty discovers
that her nemeses have not forgotten about her. Cartel leader
El Cuchillo (The Knife) wants Betty to either find Roy within 2 weeks
or he'll wipe out Betty's
entire family. Evangeline
Roy, the drug
dealing, faith healing psychopath who nearly destroyed Betty's life is
back in metro Dallas and making waves. Evangeline is back in Texas and her drug business is encroaching on the Sineloan cartel's territory. Roy hasn't forgotten to what Betty did to her sons.
To make matters even more twisted, when Mary Grace’s wealthy and powerful stepfather starts making noises about wanting custody of the girl and threatens legal action, Betty is legitimately torn about whether or not she really wants to throw their life’s savings into a custody dispute that they’re unlikely to win. That leaves Betty asking for help from a pair of Private Investigators named Peg Bartles and Rocky Bentner. Peg and Rocky also help Betty track down the elusive Evangeline Roy which leads to yet another suspenseful confrontation.
Betty's relationship with her partner Detective Seth “Riot” Dutton has gotten better, but there's still room for improvement and Betty owes a story about her Uncle Benny and the things he trained her for. There is an abundance of violence balanced on occasion with Betty's remembrances of her NYC family and her interactions with her girlfriend and her detective partner Seth Dutton. I still marvel at the amount of brutality and physical damage Betty faces through the series. The amount of injuries and lack of sleep she amasses over the two weeks is pretty impressive.
But it's nothing normal if you've read this series from the very beginning and walked in Betty's shoes as she was nearly defeated. One of the more realistic part of this entire series is the amount of drugs that is flowing into this country by Mexican Cartels, MS-13, Honduran gangs, and college kids looking to make a little money to pay for their education. This is what Betty and her team do. They try to shut down the illegal drug trade, but are constantly battling against those who are well armed, well funded, and aren't intimidated by police officers which leads to some expected and shocking deaths in this story.
The story itself actually begins September 10, 2001, which just happens to be the day that the world went crazy with terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers, and the Pentagon. For Betty, she has always respected Benny told her. He even warned her to stay away on 9/11 when her fellow officers were murdered because she had a huge heart and would want to do too much to find the bad guys. Coincidentally or not, the present tense story takes place from September 11, 2014 thru September 25, 2014.
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