Duplicity

February 20, 2017
Haseldine’s absorbing if unrealistic sequel to 2016’s The Last Time She Saw Him finds crime reporter Julia Gooden living in Rochester Hills, a Detroit suburb, with her husband, ADA David Tanner, after a separation. While working the Detroit beat, Julia is assigned, against all the rules, to a case in which David is the prosecutor. Mob boss Nick Rossi has been caught on camera in a hotel suite making payoffs to a former Detroit mayor. Julia wants to reveal the identity of a key witness before Rossi goes to trial, but David warns her that if she does so, the witness is sure to be killed. Julia doesn’t betray David’s trust, but that doesn’t prevent a bomber from blowing up the courthouse, killing the witness and injuring David. Never mind the story’s improbabilities; what matters are the duplicities practiced by the characters, not least Julia herself, who pretends she doesn’t feel a thing anymore for her handsome, charismatic, save-the-day ex-boyfriend, Det. Raymond Navarro, who figures prominently at the thrilling climax. Agent: Priya Doraswamy, Lotus Lane Literary.