The Empty Bed

In Sadowsky’s entertaining sequel to 2018’s The Burial Society, British investment firm CEO Forrest “Holly” Holcomb asks his ex-lover, Catherine , who heads an organization that helps people disappear, to look into a situation in Hong Kong, where Holly’s employee Peter Lombard recently took his wife, Eva, on an anniversary vacation. Peter woke up in their hotel room one morning to an empty bed and Eva gone without a trace. Catherine sends two of her best agents, the spunky Stephanie Regaldo and the no-nonsense Jake Burrows, to Hong Kong to track the missing woman. Alternating narratives build suspense as it’s revealed that Eva and Peter’s marriage is anything but happy, and, despite fears that Eva was being followed, she may have disappeared voluntarily. Stephanie and Jake’s search takes them through a variety of colorful Hong Kong locales, from seedy brothels to sophisticated cybercafés. A subplot involving an FBI agent’s attempts to locate a wealthy businessman’s missing wife and son seems superfluous, but hints at a story line for next time. Readers will look forward to the third installment. [em]Agent: Emma Sweeney, Emma Sweeney Agency. (Jan.) [/em]