The Next

Vining adeptly blends crime and the supernatural in his second noir outing, just as he did in his well-received debut, The Quick (2004). PI Jimmy Miles, who's a "Sailor" (i.e., a human who has died but lives again with another's face), leaves his usual L.A. turf for San Francisco, where he's been hired to tail a woman bent on self-destruction who may be the victim of a cult that has encouraged a rash of suicides. Moving between the normal world and the hidden underculture of the Sailors, Miles works frantically to stave off further tragedy. While later plot developments fall short of the pulse-pounding opening, which will remind genre fans of some of Frank Robinson's best work (The Power ; Waiting ), the author has created a neat alternate universe and successfully taps into big-city nihilism and despair. (Aug.)