No Man’s Land

Perilous adventures inside derelict buildings add texture and excitement to Driscoll’s solid fourth FBI K-9 novel featuring search-and-rescue expert Meg Jennings and her Labrador retriever, Hawk (after 2018’s Lone Wolf). Meg teams with EMT Todd Webb and Washington Post reporter Clay McCord to unmask a serial killer preying on the elderly. Clues lead Meg and Hawk into the world of extreme urban exploration called urbexing. Driscoll’s narrative power is at its best when the K-9 duo chase the killer through claustrophobic locations, though the pacing is undermined at times by heavy exposition. Dialogue strains when Meg’s team tries to connect urbexing with the victims’ illegal annuity policies and Tamil ritual killings. Logic is also an issue, as it’s never clear why the killer goes to such elaborate lengths to take elderly patients into the bowels of deserted buildings when he could kill them in their nursing homes. This will appeal to dog lovers and those who enjoy PG-rated action. Agent: Nicole Resciniti, Seymour Agency. (Dec.)