cover image The Last Good Girl

The Last Good Girl

Allison Leotta. S&S/Touchstone, $25 (288p) ISBN 978-1-4767-6111-4

A missing person’s case preoccupies Anna Curtis in Leotta’s unconvincing fifth thriller featuring the Washington, D.C., federal prosecutor (after 2015’s A Good Killing). While on a trip to Michigan to see her sister, Anna learns that college student Emily Shapiro, whose father is the president of Tower University, has disappeared, last seen on video in a confrontation with fellow student Dylan Highsmith, who also has a high-powered father, Michigan’s lieutenant governor. Alison had accused Dylan of rape. Dylan, the epitome of sleaze, inappropriately touches Anna when she visits his fraternity house with her FBI agent friend, Samantha Randazzo. One of Dylan’s frat buddies turns out to be the younger brother of Anna’s new love interest, Cooper Bolden. Sections transcribed from Emily’s video log slow the pace, and jarring improbabilities—a nurse at a rehab facility freely provides details of a student’s treatment to Anna, who doesn’t even have to show the nurse an ID—don’t help the suspension of disbelief. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House. (May)