Above the Law

Continuing the procedural thriller plot from 2015’s Lay Down the Law, Taite sticks to the approach of minimal romance, moderate lust and angst, and maximum corruption. Dallas, Tex., DEA special agent Dale Nelson came home one day to find her wife gunned down on their front lawn. Maria Escobar had been a prosecutor deeply committed to bringing down the drug cartels operating in her Texas jurisdiction. A year later, Dale carries on that work from the enforcement side, making her job her life. Political machinations higher up the chain cause her task force to be dismantled just as investigative reporter Lindsey Ryan comes on the scene—she’s been demoted and assigned to film a puff piece on a DEA outreach program, because of one too many humiliating takedowns of powerful people who complained to Lindsey’s bosses. When Dale is assigned to be Lindsey’s agency liaison, the scene is set for Dale’s official investigation to go off the books and Lindsey’s PR exercise to go off the rails. There’s not a lot of time spent making the unlikely pairing of gritty cop and hotheaded journalist plausible, and the dialogue-heavy story makes the setting feel more like the New York City of Law & Order than Dallas, but readers who enjoyed the first installment will find this a worthy second act. (June)