You Can Go Home Now

April 13, 2020
Iranian-American Nina Karim, the heroine of this strong thriller from Elias (The Last Conquistador), has a secret reason for joining the Long Island City, N.Y., PD—she wants access to resources only a police officer has so that she can find the anonymous Army of God sniper who killed her father when she was a teen in 1999. In the course of her work as a detective, she sees a pattern in murder victims who abused women while they were alive and connects them all to the Artemis Shelter for Women, where she goes undercover as an abuse victim. Meanwhile, she pursues a lead on the identity of her father’s killer. Though Nina’s feelings about the “cowardly bastard” are clear, she’s morally conflicted about finding the killer of the abusers. A few women at the shelter have stories that feel clichéd, like the Pakistani woman who’s threatened with an honor killing, but overall Elias does a good job of conveying a painful reality. This is for anyone who doesn’t mind their heroes acting in the gray areas to see justice done. Agent: Caroline Michel, Peters, Fraser & Dunlop Group.

Starred review from May 1, 2020
Long Island City PD homicide detective Nina Karim tells her boss that police shows on TV?and especially Angie Dickinson in Police Woman?inspired her to become a cop. But the real motivator was the murder of Nina's physician father, worked for Planned Parenthood and was presumably killed by an anti-abortion zealot. Working in law enforcement seemed the best way to find the cowardly bastard who did it, a promise Nina made to her younger brother and mother, both now dead. Years later she's still searching, when an old friend comes up with a new lead while Nina is working on a possible connection between the murders of persons who savagely abused their domestic partners. This leads her to a secret women's shelter in Queens, where residents can stay until it's safe for them to go home, prompting Nina to go undercover as an abused wife. In a rousing climax, Elias (The Last Conquistador, 2013) deftly ties together the plot threads of Nina's personal quest and her current assignment. A compulsively readable thriller that could take Elias to another level of acclaim.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)