No Mercy

October 29, 2018
Schaffhausen’s harrowing sequel to 2017’s The Vanishing Season finds 29-year-old Ellery Hathaway, a Woodbury, Mass., police officer, on involuntary leave after shooting a murderer with ties to the serial killer who abducted and assaulted her when she was 14. A court-appointed psychiatrist prescribes group therapy, where Ellery fixates on the problems of fellow attendees Myra Gallagher and Wendy Mendoza. Eight months earlier, an unknown assailant raped Wendy during a home invasion, and in the 1980s, Myra lost her little boy in a fire allegedly set by an arsonist who’s now eligible for parole. Local law enforcement refuses to loop in Ellery, so she launches her own investigations with the help of FBI profiler Reed Markham. Reed and Ellery grow closer as Ellery’s increasingly reckless behavior endangers their lives and careers. Frequent references to the previous book’s plot may confuse new readers, but Schaffhausen succeeds overall, using emotionally complex characters and a swiftly paced, multifaceted mystery to entertain while exploring the deep and lasting effects of violent crime. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary.

November 15, 2018
A childhood kidnap victim-turned-cop looks to the FBI agent who rescued her for help in tracking a serial sex criminal in a case that may change their relationship forever.Not only is Ellery Hathaway temporarily sidelined from her job as a suburban Boston police officer just because she killed some guy, but she's stuck in court-appointed counseling with Dr. Sunny, who wants Ellery to attend a support group for other victims of crimes. It's not like Ellery is denying that her shooting of William Willett was influenced by her early-life experience of being kidnapped and tortured by serial killer Francis Coben, but how does someone even deal with that? A name change hasn't kept the press or fascinated gawkers from judging Ellery's every move even though all she wants is to be left alone, especially now that she's no longer in a position to serve up justice. Or is she? Dr. Sunny insists that Ellery meet one of the survivors-group participants, and Ellery is convinced it's Wendy Mendoza, a woman the police have let down in their search for her sexual assailant. After talking briefly with Wendy, Ellery agrees to go to bat for her with the guy assigned to the case, though her talk with Detective Joseph Manganelli is a dead end. The woman Dr. Sunny really wanted Ellery to meet is Myra, an older burn victim who lost her toddler, Bobby, in a fire some decades before. Not that Ellery wants to appear unfriendly--well, not too unfriendly--but what does she have to say to a woman whose experience is so unlike her own? So Ellery focuses instead on reviewing Wendy's case with a little help from her FBI connection, Reed Markham. Though Reed is up for a big promotion that could release him from his constant fieldwork to spend more time with his family, he flies to Boston to see how he can help. Maybe he's felt responsible for Ellery ever since he rescued her from Coben's lair; maybe his relationship with her is turning into something more.Ultimately, this remains more superficially focused on sparking potential romance than creating the same creepy thrills that made Schaffhausen's debut (The Vanishing Season, 2017) so memorable.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 15, 2018
The Vanishing Season (2017), Schaffhausen's first Ellery Hathaway mystery, saw Boston PD officer Ellery on the hunt for Francis Coben, a serial killer who kept Ellery captive years before. As this book opens, Ellery, on forced leave after killing Coben, is attending group therapy (also forced) and finding that she would rather suppress her difficult memories than reveal them. Her therapy sessions, however, also lead to new mysteries to solve, once again with the help of her sidekick from the first book, FBI agent Reed Markham. These two aren't your typical crime-fighting, romantically entwined duo. Ellery and Reed are a complex team whose damaged psyches and feelings for each other make them a believable force for better in a city with a rough past. Schaffhausen writes gritty characters and weary victims with great skill, and she likely has another hit on her hands here. Give this one to Karin Slaughter fans and to readers who like determined heroines who have a way with cold cases.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)