The Hollow Girl

March 10, 2014
In Coleman’s solid ninth Moe Prager novel (after 2013’s Onion Street), the PI and wine merchant falls off the wagon, big-time, after the woman he just proposed to, Pam, is crushed beneath the wheels of a high-school grad’s new Jeep Wrangler on a Brooklyn street. Prager feels guilty because he sent Pam to get the Sunday Times instead of going himself. A plea for help from an old friend rouses him from his stupor—Nancy Lustig’s grown daughter, Sloane, has disappeared. Sloane was an Internet sensation in 1999, when she posted a video ostensibly showing herself attempting suicide, leading to frantic searches from viewers who believed she was for real. Soon, a body turns up, and Prager finds himself again butting heads with the NYPD as he tries to locate Sloane. Despite the routine plot, this entry will resonate even with newcomers by dint of Prager’s eloquently expressed bleak worldview. Agent: David Hale Smith, Inkwell Management.

February 1, 2014

In this sequel to Onion Street, Moe Prager is still grieving the death of his fiancee, who was killed in a car accident for which he feels responsible. He's awakened by his brother from a drunken sleep; Nancy Lustig, a woman he met 35 years earlier, wants to hire Moe to find her missing 30-year-old daughter, Sloane, who enjoyed brief notoriety a decade earlier as Internet sensation "Hollow Girl," airing "real life performance art." Although their relationship has always been tortured, mother and daughter spoke biweekly. Sloane has not called in a month, and when new, more graphically sadistic videos starring a seemingly comatose Sloane start appearing online, Moe gets that uneasy feeling in his "kishka" (gut) that something is amiss. VERDICT Coleman gives Moe an absorbing send-off in this hard-boiled series finale. Although this title can stand alone, for maximum enjoyment the series' eight books should be read in order. As always, Moe is the everyman PI, waxing philosophical about life, love, and family. Fans of literary mysteries, private detectives, police procedurals, and nice guys will devour this book.--Edward Goldberg, Syosset P.L., NY

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 1, 2014
After an ugly bout with cancer and the death of his girlfriend, Moe Prager (Onion Street, 2013) makes herculean efforts to drown himself in booze until a gut-twanging mystery lures him back to reality. Nancy Lustig, an unforgettable woman from his first case, begs Moe to find her missing daughter, Sloane Cantor. Sloane achieved fame years ago as the Hollow Girl when she launched a fabricated online video diary, ending in a faked suicide that caused mass chaos as enraptured viewers clogged 911 lines nationwide. Right after Moe starts poking around, the bodies of two of Sloane's friends turn up, casting doubt on theories that Sloane may simply be taking a secret vacation. Then Sloane begins leaving messages for Nancy claiming she's okay just as a new version of Hollow Girl launches online. Sloane is shown bound and battered, but viewers are warned not to intervene in the performance. Moe's gut tells him she's in danger instead of in character, and he begins one of his trademark determined but outwardly meandering searches. This is Moe's final hunt, and he's going to leave behind a slew of grieving fans, but his story is wrapped up perfectly here, filled with raw social commentary, nostalgia, and guarded hopefulness. Expect those attracted to The Hollow Girl by the reality entertainment elements to be hooked by Coleman's airtight writing in this literary heavyweight PI series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)