Crash & Burn

Publishers Weekly 12/01/2014 Nothing is what it seems in this expertly crafted standalone from Thriller Award–winner Gardner. After a luxury car is discovered at the bottom of a ravine in rural New Hampshire, along with its confused and injured driver, Nicole Frank, Sgt. Wyatt Foster and PI Tessa Leoni, last seen in 2013’s Touch & Go, get on the case. What begins as a run-of-the-mill car accident turns into an investigation that uncovers a whole history of sickening crimes. Nicole’s suspiciously taciturn husband, Thomas Frank, informs Foster and Leoni that his wife suffers from postconcussive syndrome, a result of a previous fall down the basement stairs, and of some subsequent stumbles. A recovering Nicole confusedly rambles about a young girl called Vero, who may or may not be her daughter. A subplot involving Foster and Leoni’s personal relationship is a welcome distraction from the horrors that Nicole confronts as her latent memories slowly resurface. Gardner keeps the reader guessing to the end. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Feb.)