The Third Hell — Connie Dial

With a bullet lodged too close to his heart, LAPD Detective Nino Angelo is no longer able to do the job he loves. He believes being forced to retire after a twenty-five-year career might be the worst thing that could happen, until his twelve-year-old son goes missing.

Matthew vanishes in the middle of the night from the Hollywood Hills condo of Nino's ex-wife, but Nino blames himself for the boy's disappearance, knowing his addiction to police work cost him his marriage and ruined any chance he had to be a real father.

School friends tell the police Matthew ran away, but none of his son's clothes or other belongings are missing. Nino's ex-wife is frantic but even his rusty police instincts are warning him both she and Matthew's friends are not being completely truthful.

After months of searching, he's unable to find a trace of his son. He looks in every Hollywood shelter and follows leads from homeless encampments along the Los Angeles River to the mansions north of the city in canyon country, his son's Catholic School, and finally to a children s home in Texas. The police department isn't helpful except for Charley Harper, a female detective at the Hollywood station, and Detective Reggie Madison, his ex-wife's current boyfriend. Reggie is a hard-charging cop and although Nino doesn't approve of the man's end- justifies-the-means approach to police work, he knows his help is crucial.

Nino's life is about to change. He goes through a personal hell and battles evil in unlikely places to find out what kind of man he really is.