Hangman

Talty’s fast-paced sequel to 2013’s Black Irish breaks no new ground and relies on clichés common to serial killer novels. Brilliant Buffalo, N.Y., police detective Abbie Kearney and her colleagues are on high alert when a serial killer nicknamed the Hangman escapes while being transferred to Attica, killing one of his guards. Years before, the Hangman held the city hostage as he stalked and killed teenage girls from Buffalo’s wealthy neighborhood. Despite the intense hunt, the Hangman kidnaps another girl. When higher-ups tell Abbie to back off her investigation, she turns to the Network, a shady group of ex-cops and longtime residents from the County, the city’s working-class Irish section, where Abbie was raised. The Network moves outside the law to get results, and Abbie knows once she teams with them, it puts her on dangerous moral ground. The smooth narrative and evocative look at Buffalo’s history don’t disguise the predictable twists or the too obvious villain. Agent: Scott Waxman, Waxman Leavell Literary. (May)