The Night in Question

In the prologue of this morally complex thriller from Joseph (The Last Day of Emily Lindsey), Paula Wilson goes to the Chicago police and explains to Det. Claire Puhl how she came to blackmail pop star Ryan Hooks. Flash back seven days. Paula, a rideshare driver, picks up Hooks, whom she doesn’t recognize, and drives him to a meeting with a woman not his wife at her apartment building. Hooks leaves his cell phone in her car, and when Paula later realizes who he is and what’s on the phone, she begins to view Hooks as the answer to her financial problem—raising $180,000 to pay for an operation for her husband, who was severely injured in an auto accident. Hooks may be connected to Beverly Brighton, a neighbor in the building, who was murdered a few days after his visit; this gives Paula some leverage. Basically a decent woman, Paula slides down a slippery slope of murder, blackmail, and adultery while Puhl tries to sort out the muddled relationships that led to Brighton’s murder. Paula’s decision-making matters more than the crime-solving in this twisty tale. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman Literary. (Oct.)