Forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven returns in Robotham's gripping follow-up to Good Girl, Bad Girl (2019). Cyrus has finally tracked down Sacha Hopewell, the London special constable who carried little Evie Cormac out of a house of horrors seven years ago, where a man was tortured and killed trying to protect her. The little girl, whose true identity remains a mystery, was dubbed Angel Face and made a ward of the court; eventually she was given the name Evie and moved to Langford Hall, a secure children's home. Meanwhile, Sacha and her family were threatened, and she eventually fled London. Cyrus hopes Sacha can shed light on what really happened to Evie in the days following her rescue and offers to take Sacha to see Evie, but she declines. Cyrus is then called to the scene of retired police officer Hamish Whitmore's suspected suicide, where he finds evidence that suggests Whitmore was murdered. Cyrus advises his old friend Detective Lenny Parvel to treat the death as a homicide. Cyrus soon finds out that Whitmore had been investigating a series of child murders attributed to recently deceased pedophile Eugene Green, and, shockingly, the last name on his list is Angel Face. Whitmore's family also reveals that a man with pale blue eyes and a half-moon scar, claiming to be police, had already questioned them. That's no police officer, and it's not long before Cyrus, with Sacha's help, is racing to find out Evie's true identity in a bid to save her from a powerful group of people who want her silenced at any cost. Once again, Robotham delves into some very (very) dark territory, and the horror steadily mounts as Evie, who has a strange ability to tell when people are lying, finally reveals what really happened to her before her rescue. Cyrus and Evie, both trauma survivors, are quirky, complex, and endlessly fascinating creations, and Robotham's meticulously crafted tale is propelled by their alternating first-person narratives. Readers will be putty in this supremely talented author's capable hands. An urgent, poignant, and terrifying thriller. More please. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The leads in this powerhouse of a novel, psychologist Cyrus Haven and his sort-of ward, Evie Cormac, first appeared in Robotham's Good Girl, Bad Girl (2019). This one provides backstory, detailing how they came to their unlikely alliance. Haven is seeking the identity of Cormac, this strange creature he's trying to help, "the feral child with nits in her hair and cigarette burns on her skin." Immediately, things turn strange. People, even an ex-cop, are reluctant to talk. A policeman investigating a pedophile case is murdered; there's a connection to "the feral child." Hard men--including a terrifying professional killer--are seeking her, hoping to learn whatever she knows and then silence her. Point-of-view shifts form a crystal-clear mosaic, and the author manages to screw down the tension while pushing the plot forward. The whole enterprise is enriched by wonderfully cadenced prose that almost invites one to feel its texture. It's rare to be overawed by the writing in scenes of violence and danger, but try this as the bad man threatens Evie: "I will pluck out the softest bits of you." This one's a jewel, and readers who don't know Robotham should immediately catch up.

At the start of Edgar-finalist Robotham's twisty, emotionally involving sequel to 2019's Good Girl, Bad Girl, British forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven, teenager Evie Cormac's therapist, seeks out Special Constable Sacha Hopewell in Cornwall. Seven years earlier, Sacha rescued Evie from a North London house where she was discovered hiding with the corpse of a small-time criminal. Evie has never spoken about this traumatic experience, and Cyrus hopes Sacha has information that can help him treat Evie. Meanwhile, the police summon Cyrus to Manchester to consult on the apparent suicide of Hamish Whitmore, a retired detective superintendent. Cyrus finds evidence of foul play, and learns that Whitmore was fixated on the closed case of pedophile Eugene Green, who was killed in prison. A note Whitmore left behind indicates that he believed there was a possible link between Green and Evie, which prompts Cyrus to investigate. Sections told from Evie's perspective deepen both the plot and the characterizations. Fans of grim psychological suspense will be rewarded. Agent: Richard Pine, Inkwell Management. (July)

In three-time Edgar nominee Abbott's Never Ask Me, the murder of adoption consultant Danielle Roberts in an upscale Austin neighborhood upends the Pollitt family, who feel grief, relief, and suspicion ("Never ask me what I'd do to protect my family," says the wife) (50,000-copy first printing). In three-time Edgar nominee Atkins's The Revelators, Sheriff Quinn Colson, bullet-holed and left for dead, is feeling vengeful but kept from getting back to work by the interim sheriff--who ordered his murder. Continuing No. 1 New York Times best-selling Coulter's popular "FBI Thriller" series, Deadlock has FBI Special Agent Lacey Sherlock and husband Dillon Savich dealing with a psychopath, a secret from beyond the grave, and three red boxes puzzlingly containing the puzzle pieces of an unknown town (200,000-copy first printing). The multi-award-winning Hamilton's A Dangerous Breed brings back Van Shaw, tracking down the (worse-than-he-thought) father who abandoned him before birth while aiming to block a sociopath by stealing a viral weapon that could bring death to thousands (100,000-copy first printing). The acclaimed Kellermans' Half Moon Bay brings back Deputy Coroner Clay Edison, confounded by the discovery of a decades-old child's skeleton in a torn-up park and a local businessman's claim that it could be his sister. In mega-best-selling Camilla Läckberg's The Golden Cage, the increasingly restless wife of a billionaire learns that he is having an affair and exacts luscious revenge. Patterson and Tebbetts join in 1st Case, wherein Angela Hoot gets kicked out of MIT's graduate school, joins the FBI's cyber-forensics unit, and must deal with a messaging app whose beta users are dying without getting killed herself (475,000-copy first printing). In When She Was Good, the Gold Dagger-winning and Edgar short-listed Robotham continues the story of criminal psychologist Cyrus Haven and Evie Cormac, the girl without a past, first revealed in last year's Good Girl, Bad Girl. And though there are no plot details to share regarding Silva's Untitled new Gabriel Allon thriller, the print run is 500,000, and word has it that MGM has acquired the rights to adapt the entire series for television.