The Devil You Know

De Mariaffi’s debut thriller, set in and around 1993 Toronto, begins as Evie Jones, a newbie reporter at the Free Press, decides to investigate the event that’s traumatized her for the past decade: the unsolved murder of her best friend Lianne Gagnon, who was 11 years old at the time. Robert Nelson Cameron was identified as a suspect but wasn’t caught. Reader Arndt’s soft, youthful voice, a perfect match for Evie, catches each of the character’s shifting moods—from her determination to uncover the facts of the murder, to self-doubt, to an almost unbelievable fearlessness in courting danger. Arndt makes no particular effort to alter her voice to fit the other characters, but she does manage to give them the proper emotions—such as Evie’s sensible friend David, who isn’t entirely happy with their platonic relationship, her comforting and understanding parents, and her hard-boiled editor. Arndt is also extremely effective in pacing the suspenseful sequences, particularly the final confrontation between Evie and the man she believes to be Lianne’s killer. An S&S/Touchstone hardcover. (Jan.)