Anything for You

August 5, 2019
Black’s third thriller featuring SFPD homicide detective Valerie Hart (after 2017’s LoveMurder
) offers an intricate puzzle. What makes Valerie so uneasy about a case with as much evidence as the slaying of prominent former prosecutor Adam Grant and the stabbing of his wife, Rachel, in their Pacific Heights home? Maybe it’s the fact that the guy the forensics finger—ex con Dwight Jenner, recently paroled after six years in San Quentin, courtesy of Adam—is nowhere to be found. Or perhaps it’s just Valerie’s somewhat guilty conscience at not recusing herself from the case because of her “abortive one-night stand” four years earlier with the victim, during her heavy-drinking days after separating from her husband, with whom she has since reconciled. Whatever the cause, her gut proves golden in this glossy game of mirrors from Black, who exploits multiple narrative perspectives and extended flashbacks to heighten the suspense. In the end, his sleight of hand may make some readers feel a bit played—but only after they’ve stayed up late into the night to discover the tale’s final twists. Agent: Jane Gelfman, Gelfman Schneider Literary Agency.

September 1, 2019
Detective Valerie Hart is hiding secrets of her own as she tries to solve a murder that becomes more opaque with each new revelation. When an insomniac glimpses a masked intruder fleeing his neighbor's house, the police discover the bloody aftermath of a brutal attack: a husband dead and his wife barely clinging to life. The husband turns out to be Adam Grant, a former state prosecutor with no lack of enemies--and no lack of secrets. One of which is the fact that on a drunken night several years ago, Adam nearly slept with Valerie despite being married. Valerie knows she should recuse herself from the case, but she's stubborn and tends not to do the things that would be best for her. She's dealing with her own personal drama, in fact, as she and her husband have recently decided to try for a child even though all of Valerie's self-destructive impulses are driving her toward sabotage. The Grant case seems like a slam-dunk when an ex-con's fingerprints are found all over the room, but the suspect himself is nowhere to be found. As Valerie digs deeper into his disappearance and Adam's life, she keeps running into reports and evidence of a mysterious blonde. From the first gruesome scene of the novel it's clear that this is a thriller with ragged edges, haunted characters, and graphic violence. Yet Black (LoveMurder, 2017, etc.) transforms this rawness into a strength through the character of Valerie. We see her wounded heart and her self-deprecating awareness of her own darkness, layers that illuminate the truth of the novel: that the actions we take for love are not always beautiful, or right, but they still carry meaning. It's in learning to accept the consequences of our decisions that even the most troubled heart can find a kind of peace. Gritty and grim, this is a terrific thriller made more luminous by its refreshingly human detective.

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September 15, 2019
After tracking serial killers in The Killing Lessons (2015) and LoveMurder (2017), self-sabotaging SFPD detective Valerie Hart reveals gut-wrenching complications in what should be an open-and-shut investigation. Rachel Grant claims that she and her husband, Adam, were attacked by a stranger as they slept. Adam was killed, but Rachel survived. The murder weapons are covered with the fingerprints of Dwight Jenner, a felon whom Adam prosecuted in his former role as an ADA attorney; finding Jenner seems to be the only hurdle to closing the case. Jenner's friends report that he's left town with his new girlfriend, Sophia, and Hart tracks down CCTV footage showing Jenner and a beautiful blonde woman. When Valerie finds provocative photos of the same woman locked in Adam's desk, the investigation pivots toward uncovering Sophia's connection to the murder. Sophia speaks for herself in a parallel narrative, moving backward from her escape from childhood sexual abuse toward her final retribution. Valerie unflinchingly taps into her own weaknesses as a way to gain insight into her quarry; this angle, along with the skilled story crafting, will appeal to fans of Carol O'Connell and Chelsea Cain.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)