The midnight witness /

Is there anything creepier than being stalked on social media? In THE STRANGER GAME (Hanover Square, $25.99), Peter Gadol makes a convincing case that the real-world experience is much creepier and far more dangerous. The narrator of this story, a 40year-old architect named Rebecca, doesn't think of herself as a stalker. She's just so "full of longing" for human contact after her ex-boyfriend, Ezra, disappears that she commits herself to a game she discovered in an online travel journal. There are only three rules: "Choose your subjects at random." "No contact." "Never follow the same stranger twice." Gadol plays his own games here, shifting the novel's focus from Rebecca to Ezra, who is pursuing his own version of the stranger game, and then back to Rebecca, who's beginning to balk at its restrictions. "One was supposed to connect but not get involved," she reminds herself. "But why not get involved? If the link to a stranger was entirely internal, only one way, how could it be meaningful?" It's dizzying, after a while, trying to live inside these people's heads, fabricating their intimate thoughts, listening to them breathe.

After a stint hunting missing persons, Blaedel's no-nonsense heroine, Detective Louise Rick (The Lost Woman , 2017), is now the only female detective in Copenhagen's homicide department and is forced to navigate the department's chauvinism while tackling two high-profile murders. Karoline Wissinge, a young nurse, was strangled in a Copenhagen park a year after her teenage brother died in a highly publicized car accident. The night of Wissinge's murder, veteran crime reporter Frank Sorensen was found dead in a hotel parking lot. At first, police assume Sorensen died of injuries from a drunken fall, but his autopsy unmasks the telltale signs of a hit. Camilla Lind, Rick's best friend and Cophenhagen's hungriest crime reporter, is digging for leads on both cases, driven by ambition and allegiance to her former mentor, Sorensen. Soon, it looks like both murders are linked to Denmark's reigning drug kingpin, and Camilla's muckraking threatens the investigations and her life. The Louise Rick novels are must-reads for fans of Scandinavia's female police detectives, such as Anne Holt's Hanne Wilhelmsen and Helene Tursten's Irene Huss.--Christine Tran Copyright 2018 Booklist

Early in Blaedel's middling seventh Louise Rick mystery to be published in the U.S. (after The Lost Women), Louise's best friend, crime reporter Camilla Lind, calls to tell her that Karoline Wissinge, a 23-year-old nurse, was found strangled in a Copenhagen park. A distraught, exhausted Louise already knows about this murder, having spent the night before with the victim's parents. Camilla also tells her of the death of fellow journalist Frank SA,rensen, whose body was found in a hotel parking lot. The two homicide cases provide the procedural backdrop for the emotional trials both women endure to function in worlds still dominated by men. Louise, the only woman on the police homicide team, rebels against office politics and her superior's prioritization of Frank's murder over Karoline's. Camilla clashes with her male boss, who sidelines her and dictates her approach to stories. Readers will relate to the women's travails, but Blaedel overdoes the social-cum-feminist commentary on Copenhagen's urban crime scene as the predictable plot lurches to its telegraphed ending. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Assoc. (Oct.) c Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

In the latest installment of the "Louise Rick/Camilla Lind" series (The Lost Woman), Copenhagen homicide detective Louise is assigned to investigate the strangulation death of a young woman found hidden under a bush in a park. That same day, Camilla, Louise's best friend and a newspaper crime reporter, calls to get information about the sudden death of a coworker. When the reporter's death is ruled a homicide, Louise is asked to use her connection with the newspaper to help move the case forward. Then a second journalist is murdered in the same manner, and the police and Camilla work to find the link between the two deaths. Though repeatedly warning Camilla to let the officers handle the investigations, Louise can't keep her from chasing the story that she thinks will advance her career. In the subplot, Louise must finally make a decision about her long-term relationship. VERDICT Blaedel delivers another solid story with a surprise twist ending. Recommended for fans of the series and for those who enjoy contemporary Scandinavian mysteries from Kjell -Eriksson, Camilla Lackberg, and Mari Jungstedt. [See Prepub Alert 4/23/18.]-Jean King, West -Hempstead P.L., NY © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.