Dead Woman Walking

Jessica Lane, the heroine of this hit-or-miss thriller from Mary Higgins Clark Award–winner Bolton (Daisy in Chains), plans a birthday surprise for her sister, a Carmelite nun—a balloon ride over England’s Northumberland National Park. But as the balloon floats over a dilapidated farm house, Jessica and the other passengers see a man, later identified as Patrick Faa, beating a woman to death. Faa fires a rifle at the balloon, causing it to crash; Jessica is the only survivor. Bolton shifts—sometimes smoothly but too often in the middle of a scene—among the police investigation, led by Supt. Ajax Maldonado; Jessica’s attempt to evade Faa; the prior, sometimes prickly, relationship between the sisters; and a larger, somewhat more far-fetched story involving human trafficking and a massive cover-up. Maldonado and his team soon discover Jessica is a fellow police officer, but they’re stumped as to why she’s now on the run, a question the reader shares for too long. Despite some emotional resonance, Bolton’s plot is too cluttered for any real impact. [em]Agent: Anne-Marie Doulton, Ampersand Agency (U.K.). (Sept.) [/em]