The Girl on the Bridge: A McCabe and Savage Thriller

In Hayman’s disappointing fifth thriller to feature Portland, Maine, detectives Michael McCabe and Maggie Savage (after 2015’s The Girl in the Glass), a sadistic killer appears to be targeting the perpetrators of a rape. When McCabe is contacted by Rachel Thorne, who claims her husband, Josh, has gone missing while on a business trip, he and Savage are skeptical, but when she shows them a picture of her husband tied to a bed with a sign that says “Rapists Get What Rapists Deserve,” they’re compelled to act. During the investigation, they discover Josh’s connection to Hannah Reindel, who was raped by a group of athletes 12 years earlier when she was a college student and recently committed suicide by jumping off a bridge. Hannah’s husband is a suspect, but McCabe and Savage are dubious. Red herrings lace the melodramatic narrative, which is frequently bogged down by unnecessary procedural details. In addition, the tendency of male characters to comment on women’s looks undermines the author’s effort to sensitively portray the trauma and aftermath of rape. [em]Agents: Meg Ruley and Rebecca Scherer, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (May) [/em]