Kill by Numbers: In the Wake of the Templars, Book 2

Rhoads’s follow-up to The Dangerous Type is less grim than its predecessor, but also feels less polished. Raena, having exacted revenge for earlier slights, is serving aboard the pirate starship Veracity, working with the mostly nonhuman crew to help fight injustice. When a journalist named Mellix (an idol and former mentor of Mykah, the Veracity’s captain) discovers a flaw in the tesseract drive—a vital interstellar technology developed by the Templar race, which was recently extinguished by humans—it plunges the galaxy into economic chaos. Raena, and eventually her former companions Ariel and Kavanagh, get pulled into the mystery, uncovering what might be a revenge plot from beyond the grave. While Rhoads continues to deliver solid action sequences, her prose falls flat. Clichéd plot contrivances—including a sparring scene filled with sexual tension—feel forced and slow the pacing. (Sept.)