The Lost

Intrepid rockabilly reporter Kit Craig and her lover, earthbound angel Griffin Shaw, take on their second supernatural-scented case (after The Taken) in this complicated mélange of crime, passion, and bittersweet love. In Las Vegas’s grungy “boomtown turned doomtown,” junkie Jeap Yang nears death from krokodil, a new flesh-eating, addictive drug. Grif is supposed to escort Jeap to the Hereafter, but Kit, an inveterate do-gooder, tries to save him, opening herself to pursuit by Scratch, a sinister fallen angel. Grif is torn between defending Kit and continuing to investigate his own murder—and that of his wife—50 years earlier. Grif and Kit are also caught between rival Vegas drug cartels: the Marielitos, descended from Cuban gangsters, and the Russians, led by a woman who makes a play for Grif. Pettersson impressively deepens and darkens the compelling romance between her complex and irresistibly tormented protagonists. Even minor figures are fascinating, as is the ruthlessly realistic setting. Agent: Miriam Kriss, Irene Goodman Agency (author now represented by Peter McGuigan, Foundry Literary + Media). (Apr.)