Shadow Girl: An Afton Tangler Thriller

At the start of Schmitt’s uneven second thriller featuring family liaison officer and single mom Afton Tangler (after 2016’s Little Girl Gone), a surface-to-air missile destroys a helicopter bringing a heart for transplant to the University of Minnesota Hospital. The authorities initially believe the strike was the work of terrorists, but the reader knows from the start that the killers were indirectly targeting against the heart’s intended recipient, Leland Odin, the owner of the Diamond Shopping Network. Who knew that the heart in the helicopter was destined for Odin? Afton and Det. Max Montgomery, of the Minneapolis PD, question the millionaire’s strangely distant wife and his bored teenage stepdaughter, along with Odin’s business partner and other associates, none of whom seems overly concerned about Odin’s health. Schmitt keeps the plot moving at a good clip, but Afton’s readiness to carry a gun and race into danger is at odds with her personal and professional obligations and is likely to leave the reader confused as to what her role is supposed to be. [em]Agent: Sam Pinkus, Keystone Literary. (Aug.) [/em]