The Competition

What could be worse than a Columbine-style school shooting? Rachel Knight finds out in Clark’s ticking time bomb of a thriller, the fourth in her series featuring the L.A. deputy DA (after 2013’s Blind Ambition). Called to suburban Fairmont High, the scene of the crime, by best friend Bailey Keller, “a top-notch detective in the elite Robbery-Homicide Division of the LAPD,” Knight finds that her presence may be far more than a formality when forensic evidence suggests that one or more of the mass murderers might have escaped. From there, the two women embark on a pedal-to-the-metal race to solve the case before there’s another massacre, all while trying to keep their efforts under the radar to avoid spooking their quarry or panicking the public. That a lone DA/detective team would have so much autonomy in such a high-profile investigation stretches credulity, but the twisty plot and dynamic duo make for a suspenseful, if sobering, page-turner. [em]Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House. (July) [/em]