Painted Skins: A Tess Grey Thriller

Clichéd characters, some of whom speak in overdone dialect (“Going to step out and stretch my legs, me”), mar British author Hilton’s sequel to Blood Tracks. Portland, Maine, PI Tess Grey and her lover/assistant, Nicolas “Po” Villere, are searching for troubled, tattooed 24-year-old Jasmine Reed, who has disappeared. Tess and Po talk to strip-club owner Maxwell Carter, who says that he offered Jasmine a job as a dancer, but she turned him down because she still bears the scars from being cut up by an assailant. Tess is the first to figure out that two other women with tattoos and scars have gone missing, both last seen in the vicinity of a major highway in Massachusetts. Tess also identifies a suspect, who was the son of parents who briefly fostered Jasmine when she was a rebellious teen. Meanwhile, the sadist who has kidnapped, raped, and tortured young women continues to torment his prisoners. The relentlessly grim action builds to a messy, violent conclusion. (Dec.)