The 9th Girl

April 29, 2013
In bestseller Hoag’s gripping fourth outing for Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska, the two Minneapolis homicide cops (last seen in 2006’s Prior Bad Acts) have a difficult time identifying the horribly mutilated body of an adolescent girl that popped from the trunk of a moving car on New Year’s Eve. The unidentified girl is the ninth Jane Doe of the year in the Minneapolis area, possibly the victim of a serial killer who Kovac has dubbed “Doc Holiday” because all the murders were committed on or near a holiday. The task for Liska is magnified by the troubles her 15-year-old son, Kyle, is having at school with bullies. Kovac and Liska pursue leads jointly and separately as one sees the work of a serial killer and the other a crime perhaps unrelated to Doc Holiday. By the surprising conclusion, the investigation has uncovered chilling tragedy and banal evil in almost equal proportions. Agent: Andrea Cirillo. Jane Rotrosen Agency.

July 1, 2012

Minneapolis investigators Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska starred in Hoag's two biggest hits, Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust, but haven't been around for the past half-dozen years. Now they're back, worrying about Jane Doe 9, the ninth unidentified body found in Minneapolis in 2012. It takes some work, but our twosome finally uncover her fractured family life and the young love that could have been her undoing.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2013
Hoag's immense popularity15 consecutive best-sellersis based not only on her well-oiled, finely calibrated plots but also on her sensitivity to the painful interface between family troubles and crime and the complex demands women detectives face, especially one of her most popular characters, small but mighty Nikki Liska of Minneapolis. Last seen in Prior Bad Acts (2006) with her partner, Sam Kovac, Liska is a single mother currently worried about her caring and artistic 15-year-old son, Kyle. Guilt and fear build as she and Kovacs work around the clock to identify a horribly mutilated young woman found dead on New Year's Eve and figure out if she is the ninth victim of the serial killer they sardonically call Doc Holiday. As the investigation veers awfully close to Liska's home, Hoag makes shrewd use of the roles cell phones and social media play in teens' lives as forums for bonding and bullying. Hoag's prose is martial-arts quick and precise, her humor is high-voltage, and her insights into the misery of high school, the toxicity of divorce, and the extreme psychosis of a serial killer are knowing and thought-provoking. HIGH-DEMAND BACK STORY: Liska and Kovac are huge draws for Hoag fans, and Hoag's latest, one of her very best, will be promoted with major radio and blog tours and abundant advertising and press coverage.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)