Hollow Beasts: A Jodi Luna Novel

In this strong action-packed thriller and series launch from bestseller Valdés (The Dirty Girls Social Club), widow Jodi Luna, “a celebrated poet and academic in Boston,” returns to her home state of New Mexico, which she left at 18 and where her family has lived for generations, because she believes the change will be good for her and her 14-year-old daughter, Mila. There, at age 45, she becomes the state’s oldest game warden in training. Jodi’s arrest of a poacher, with the aid of her 75-year-old game warden uncle who’s about to retire, makes her and Mila targets of a white supremacist group that has been kidnapping young women of color. The local sheriff refuses to help, so Jodi teams up with ambitious deputy Ashley Romero to investigate the terrorists. Credible characters and a deep knowledge of Hispanic culture enhance the solid plot. Poetry became Jodi’s career, but her family taught her how to shoot, hunt, and survive off the land, and she passes on those same skills to her plucky daughter. Readers will look forward to seeing a lot more of this tough, smart heroine. Agent: Alicia Brooks, JVNLA. (Apr.)