Compulsion

A heroic lead isn’t enough to salvage bestseller Brennan’s frenetic second thriller featuring dogged reporter Maxine “Max” Revere (after 2014’s Notorious). Max, the star of Maximum Exposure, a TV news series devoted to criminal justice, pulls off a coup when she gets an exclusive interview with accused serial killer Adam Bachman. Bachman was arrested nine months earlier in New York City, after a traffic delay gave time for his latest intended victim, Ava Raines, to call for help from the trunk of the car Bachman was driving and alert some nearby police officers. Although Bachman was charged with five murders, Max focuses on two victims, a middle-aged couple on their second honeymoon, whom she believed he also killed, but whose bodies were never recovered. She keeps digging, spurred by the killer’s taunt that she’ll “never find them.” Largely self-sufficient, Max nonetheless winds up a damsel in distress. A plot hole involving Ava will leave some readers scratching their heads. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House. (Apr.)