BEFORE THE CRADLE FALLS

In this superbly paced mix of science fiction, thriller and police procedural, set in contemporary Portland, Ore., police detective Kyle Sommers has taken to the bottle to fight the memories of his daughter Shelby's death in an accident for which he was responsible. To rehabilitate him, his superiors put Kyle in charge of a task force to fight the Cradle Robber, a vicious child-killer who has now moved to Portland. But some of the Cradle Robber's intended victims are being saved at the last minute. With the help of double-amputee and writer Sherrie Nolan, Kyle figures out that the child rescuer is a time-traveler. Fired from the task force, Kyle decides to pursue both the Cradle Robber and the time-traveler on his own. He and Sherrie eventually confront both as they try to end the Cradle Robber's trail of death—and allow the time-traveler to save his own lost daughter. Despite the high body count, the author carefully calibrates the violence for emotional impact, never crossing the line into gratuitous gore, and even a serial killer and various gang-bangers have internal lives. There's also an agreeable minimum of tokenism in Sherrie's disability, and likewise little voyeurism in the endangerment of children. David (Ship of the Damned) has contributed a fine novel to that popular genre, the well-told tale. One can only hope that the survivors will make a return appearance. (June 20)