Shoot the Moon

Barry’s undercooked sequel to Double Exposure finds Hollywood PI Rainey Hall starting to feel like she’s chasing ghosts when a missing persons case throws her back into her difficult past. Rainey realizes she may be entering dangerous waters when she volunteers to search for 17-year-old beauty Chloe Delmonico, whose case shares disturbing similarities with the unsolved disappearance of Rainey’s childhood best friend nine years earlier. As Rainey begins to probe potential links between the cases, including a rock star turned political power broker and a well-connected drug dealer with a taste for underage girls, pushback from L.A.’s most influential circles suggests she’s struck a nerve—and that the stakes may be even higher than she thought. Barry is too talented a writer for Rainey’s plunge into greed, graft, and murder not to have its moments—especially the heart-pounding, cinematic climax set during an orgy at a haunted hotel. Unfortunately, many of the twists seem arbitrary, and several characters, including Rainey’s agency partner, Lola, are unconvincing. Lacking both the daring plot and sizzling queer tension of its predecessor, this disappoints. Agent: Annie Bomke, Annie Bomke Literary. (Feb.)