The Names of Dead Girls

In Thriller Award–finalist Rickstad’s underwhelming sequel to 2015’s e-book original, The Silent Girls, the past isn’t past. Frank Rath, a retired Vermont state police detective, is horrified to get a phone call from Ned Preacher, who raped his sister, Laura, and killed her and her husband, Daniel, 16 years earlier. Preacher is now free, having pleaded guilty to lesser crimes and acted like a saint while in prison to reduce his sentence. Preacher is threatening to harm Laura and Daniel’s daughter, Rachel, whom Frank raised as his own after their deaths. Meanwhile, Dana Clark, the only survivor of an attack by the Connecticut River Valley Killer, disappears, and another young woman turns up dead. Insp. Gerard Champine, a Canadian police detective, calls Rath because there are similar murder cases in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Rath leaves retirement to take charge of the investigation. Rickstad throws in some wicked twists as Rath tries to make sense of the killings, but they’re not enough to make up for the weak detective work. Agent: Philip G. Spitzer, Philip G. Spitzer Literary Agency. (Sept.)