review: quicksand by carolyn baugh

Officer Nora Khalil is part of a joint task force between the FBI and the Philadelphia Police Department which puts her in the middle of a purported gang war that has left a teenage girl brutally murdered. The first in a new series from Carolyn Baugh, Quicksand introduces a fantastic set of characters and many threads of future plots while also satisfactorily concluding the primary plot here. With characters like Nora’s father, an Egyptian Muslim, and the more recent immigrants Nora interviews in the course of the investigation, Baugh (who has a doctorate in Arabic and Islamic studies) expertly explores the cultural differences presented in Quicksand, particularly with how the police interviews are conducted. With an energetic plot and beautifully developed characters, Quicksand is a fantastic start to a new law enforcement thriller series.
5/5
Review copy provided the publisher, Forge.