cover image Dead Reckoning

Dead Reckoning

Glenis Wilson. Severn, $28.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-7278-8708-5

Jump jockey Harry Radcliffe has an incredibly high pain threshold, as shown in Wilson’s unconvincing third horse racing mystery (after 2015’s Dead on Course). When Harry finds prostitute Alice Goode with her head bashed in at her Newark, England, home, he thinks he knows who killed her—gangster Jake Smith. After reporting his suspicions to the police, Harry starts to drive home, but along the way he notices that the psychopathic Smith has been hiding in the backseat of his car. Smith demands that Harry find the real murderer and also provide a place for him to hide out. If the jockey fails to do this, Smith threatens, he’ll kill Harry’s pregnant wife (who’s separated from Harry and happily living with her unborn child’s father). As Harry delves deeper into Alice’s life, he uncovers more than he bargained for, as well as some truths that are too closely connected to his own family. Meanwhile, Harry repeatedly meets Smith in secluded places, where he invariably receives a ferocious beating from the thug. Readers will struggle to suspend disbelief. [em]Agent: David Grossman, David Grossman Literary Agency (U.K.). (July) [/em]