Let Me Go

In Cain’s tense sixth thriller featuring serial killer Gretchen Lowell and Det. Archie Sheridan (after 2012’s Kill You Twice), the murder of DEA agent Carl Richmond leads Archie to investigate Portland, Ore., businessman Jack Reynolds’s drug empire. Jack’s son, Leo, is not only the boyfriend of freelance reporter Susan Ward but also the mole for the Feds inside his father’s operation. Carl was Leo’s handler. In an effort to determine whether Leo is alive or dead, Archie attends a lavish Halloween masquerade ball on Jack’s private island in a tony Portland suburb. Susan also attends, at Jack’s insistence. When a party guest turns up dead the next morning and Gretchen, who escaped from the state mental hospital months earlier, is seen in the vicinity, Archie has to choose his allies wisely if he’s to survive. Carefully peeling back Gretchen’s psychological layers with each new book, Cain continues to impress with her complex game of cat-and-mouse. Agent: Joy Harris, Joy Harris Literary Agency. (Aug.)