False Move

November 1, 2016

Because Jasmine Reed is a perpetual runaway, the Portland, ME, police are less than interested when her grandmother reports her missing. Margaret Norris hires private investigators Tess Gray and Nicholas "Po" Villere to find Jasmine, yet several other people in Portland are also searching for her, including the man who harmed her years ago. But Jasmine disappeared before he hit town, so who could be responsible? As Tess investigates, she uncovers other missing young women, all scarred or tattooed or marked in some way. Where have they all gone? Introduced in Blood Tracks, Tess and Po are memorable protagonists. Tess was a police officer who now works as a private investigator. Po is Cajun and left Louisiana after serving time in Angola Prison. Both sleuths have backgrounds ripe for further development. VERDICT The Maine setting brings to mind the mysteries of Paul Doiron, but this is much more of a thriller with some brutal overtones, more in the vein of Taylor Stevens's "Vanessa Michael Munroe" series.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2019
Mom never liked daughter Tess' job choices. Cop, then PI. They're dangerous and, even worse, a waste of an education. So why is Mom slyly asking Tess to find an old family friend who's vanished? The answer comes late in this occasionally gripping, occasionally halting crime novel. The opening is a winner. Tess and her partner, Po, no sooner begin their hunt through the dark side of Boston than they discover they're being hunted. Are the shadowy people lurking behind tinted glass staffers of the security company the missing man worked for? Right off, the MacGuffin surfaces: thumb drives containing evidence of a horrifying crime. They've vanished, too. Readers may wonder why author Hilton, after constructing a launchpad for a fiery missile of an actioner, stalls for a study of relationships in Tess' family, plus a breakdown of the chain of command at the security company. Those who stay with it will be rewarded with satisfyingly slow building tension leading to a satisfactorily violent finale. What's on those drives really is shocking. Even now.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)