Hard Town

In Plantinga’s white-knuckle sequel to The Ascent, retired Detroit cop Kurt Argento gets embroiled in a deadly skirmish in a small Arizona town. The recently widowed Kurt and his dog, Hudson, are house-sitting for an old SWAT buddy in the Southwest. When anxious stranger Kristin Reed approaches Kurt with her two-year-old son and asks for his help locating her missing husband, the ex-cop feels compelled to help. Strangely, however, Kristin fails to arrive for their subsequent appointment in the neighboring town of Fenton, and when Kurt sticks around to question locals about the Reed family’s disappearance, he’s met with hostility and suspicion. There’s a shroud of secrecy surrounding Fenton, and his investigation courts the attention of Department of Homeland Security agent Marisol Sumaya, who warns Kurt to leave town. Subsequent attacks on Kurt and Hudson bolster Kurt’s resolve to undermine Sumaya and her associates, even as the stakes ratchet up. The narrative builds to a nerve-jangling climax as gangland assassins, mercenaries, and federal agents clash in a battle to take control of a top-secret government project with enormous global consequences. Once again, Plantinga hits the mark, serving up perfectly paced action and intriguing new wrinkles to Kurt’s psychology. This series has legs. Agent: Caitlin Blasdell, Liza Dawson Assoc. (Apr.)