The Trickster’s Lullaby

Fradkin’s second Amanda Doucette thriller (following Fire in the Stars) is a high-adrenaline plunge into the dangerous and murky waters of the homegrown terrorism. Amanda, a former international aid worker, wants to make a difference following her return to Canada. She launches a charity that takes disadvantaged youth on wilderness trips, and her first outing is a winter camping trip with a mix of inner-city immigrant and Canadian-born youth from Montreal intended to help bridge cultural divides. Trouble begins when Luc, a French-Canadian 18-year-old with a history of drug use, disappears from the campsite. Then an Iraqi girl, Yasmina, also disappears. When a local farmer is found murdered and terrorist material is discovered on Luc’s computer, Amanda and Royal Canadian Mounted Police Corporal Chris Tymko, whom readers may remember from the previous book, must work together to find the teens and stop a terrorist plot. Fradkin’s background as a psychologist is evident in her well-developed characters, who are matched by smart plotting and timely questions of what draws young people to extremist ideologies. (Oct.)