Old Bones

During a Take Back the Night vigil at Atlanta’s Spelman College (a predominately black women’s college), shots ring out, killing one student and wounding 10, in Boyce’s intense if flawed sequel to 2016’s Out of the Blues. The suspects flee in an SUV marked with a Confederate flag, fueling the notion that this was a hate crime. Det. Sarah “Salt” Alt pursues the suspects’ car, but they escape after firing shots at her vehicle. Later, Alt is called out to the discovery of a partially decomposed body, which is soon identified as 14-year-old Mary Marie McCloud. Alt feels a certain responsibility to Mary Marie, a girl she tried repeatedly to help during her days as a beat cop in the projects known as the Homes. Alt, who’s in mandatory counseling for two recent use-of-force incidents, feels responsible for Mary Marie’s death. Despite a scorching-hot plot, Boyce loads her tale with endless exposition; the flimsy characters aren’t strong enough to support the thoughts and ideas she asks them to carry. [em]Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Associates. (Feb.) [/em]