The Hunter’s Daughter

Criminologist Solvinic debuts with a propulsive thriller about a young detective’s harrowing family history. Anna Kory, a lieutenant with a rural Midwestern sheriff’s department, is a good cop—empathetic and efficient. One night, she’s called to a domestic disturbance, where she’s shot and wounded by a wild-eyed man. Anna fires back, killing him. The incident awakens long-repressed memories from her childhood: Anna’s father, Stephen, was the “Forest Strangler,” a serial killer who kidnapped young women and ritualistically killed them as offerings to the “Forest God.” After he was arrested, a nine-year-old Anna was adopted by a family in a different state and her memories were erased via hypnosis. Not long after the adult Anna is released from the hospital following the shooting, a young woman is found dead with her body arranged in a manner that echoes the Forest Strangler’s slayings. As Anna investigates, she starts receiving disturbing anonymous emails that raise a terrifying question: Is the young woman’s murder the work of a copycat, or has her father returned? Solvinic is remarkably assured for a first-timer, lacing the action with elegant descriptions of the rural landscape and enough valid suspects to keep the pot boiling. Readers will look forward to this promising suspense author’s next outing. Agent: Caitlin Blasdell, Liza Dawson Assoc. (May)