Jessie Garcia’s twisty new thriller opens with the character of Jasmine sneaking out of her abuser’s bed in the early morning hours and escaping to the airport in Madison, arriving for her flight in disguise and several hours early. In the next chapter, we meet Stephanie, a single mom news director at the Madison CBS affiliate who is packing for an industry conference in California. They board the same flight and are seated next to each other. For the rest of part one, the chapters toggle back and forth between these two women. However, once part two begins, we don’t hear from either of them again — only from the other characters who are trying to piece together what happened. I’d better not say anything more.
” The Business Trip ” may be the Madison native’s first work of fiction, but Garcia is a seasoned reporter and nonfiction author — what’s more, she’s currently the news director of the CBS affiliate in Milwaukee, which adds some authentic sizzle to the fictional tale. Garcia was Wisconsin’s first female sports anchor — right here at News 3 Now, back in 1992 — and her nonfiction books, ” My Life with the Green and Gold: Tales from 20 Years of Sportscasting ” (2013) and ” Going for Wisconsin Gold: Stories our State Olympians ” (2016), won honors from the Midwest Books Awards.