Far Gone

At the start of Girard’s engrossing sequel to 2020’s White Out, Hannah Visser arrives high on drugs at the Hagen, N.Dak., home of Nadine and Ben Garza to babysit for Tiffany, their infant daughter. Minutes later, as the Garzas are preparing to leave, someone enters the house and fatally shoots Nadine and Ben while Hannah hides in a closet. The killer’s voice sounds familiar, though she can’t put a face to it. Instead of going to the police, who would notice her stoned condition, she drives Tiffany to the hospital, where Hannah’s father is a doctor, and foists the baby on ER nurse Lily Baker. In search of refuge, Hannah then drives to the cabin where her family spent idyllic time in her youth. Meanwhile, the killer, after overhearing a conversation at the hospital that puts Hannah at the murder scene, determines to find her and prevent her from identifying him. Det. Kylie Milliard investigates, and Lily gets drawn into the case after DNA analysis of blood at the crime scene reveals a link to a crime involving Lily a decade earlier. The pace of this tense thriller never slackens. Girard is on a roll. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (July)