cover image Graveland

Graveland

Alan Glynn. Picador, $16 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-0-312-62129-2

The third in Edgar-finalist Glynn’s loosely knit series of financial thrillers (after 2011’s Bloodland) starts with a promising setup. New York City journalist Ellen Dorsey, who specializes in long political profiles, becomes intrigued by two recent murders: that of an investment banker, shot dead while jogging in Central Park; and, later the same day, that of a hedge fund manager, gunned down outside a swanky Manhattan restaurant. While the police bumble around and the media buzz about a coordinated attack on Wall Street executives, Dorsey seeks to connect the killings. The case’s logical conclusion comes in the form of a standoff and gun battle in a tenement, but there’s still about a third of the book to go. Glynn follows a few plotlines that have little pop and ties up a thread from the series opener, 2009’s Winterland. Readers may feel that the experience is like watching the stock market ticker on an uneventful day. Agent: Antony Harwood, Antony Harwood Ltd. (June)