Strangers We Know

When San Francisco copy editor Ivy Hon, the protagonist of this unnerving psychological thriller from Marr (Lies We Bury), learns from a DNA test that she’s possibly related to the Full Moon Killer, an FBI agent asks her to help him find the fiend, who “was primarily active in the Pacific Northwest from the late eighties to the early aughts.” Ivy, an adoptee who took the DNA test because she suffers from disabling symptoms of a condition her doctor’s unable to diagnose, was hoping to find someone in her biological family with the same infirmity who might provide her with insight into its cause and treatment. After locating a cousin living in Rock Island, Wash., Ivy travels there only to discover that her biological mother was murdered by the Full Moon Killer and that the killer has returned to Rock Island and begun a new killing spree. As the evidence pointing to someone in her family grows, the secrets and lies she uncovers put her in danger. After a slow start, the pace picks up and the increasingly tense plot takes turns the reader won’t see coming. Marr is a writer to watch. Agent: Jill Marr, Sandra Dijkstra Literary. (May)