No Mercy

Schaffhausen’s harrowing sequel to 2017’s The Vanishing Season finds 29-year-old Ellery Hathaway, a Woodbury, Mass., police officer, on involuntary leave after shooting a murderer with ties to the serial killer who abducted and assaulted her when she was 14. A court-appointed psychiatrist prescribes group therapy, where Ellery fixates on the problems of fellow attendees Myra Gallagher and Wendy Mendoza. Eight months earlier, an unknown assailant raped Wendy during a home invasion, and in the 1980s, Myra lost her little boy in a fire allegedly set by an arsonist who’s now eligible for parole. Local law enforcement refuses to loop in Ellery, so she launches her own investigations with the help of FBI profiler Reed Markham. Reed and Ellery grow closer as Ellery’s increasingly reckless behavior endangers their lives and careers. Frequent references to the previous book’s plot may confuse new readers, but Schaffhausen succeeds overall, using emotionally complex characters and a swiftly paced, multifaceted mystery to entertain while exploring the deep and lasting effects of violent crime. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary. (Jan.)