Man Down: Rogue Series Book 2

Early in Venter’s enjoyable sequel to 2020’s Hard Rain, Isabel Kroon, who’s on the run from South African police who want her for her stalker’s murder, is tracked down by master hacker Sarah in Mumbai, India. Alex Derksen, Isabel’s ex-boyfriend and Sarah’s current love interest, has been missing for weeks, and Sarah needs Isabel’s help finding him. Sarah and Isabel return home to South Africa, where they figure out Alex has been kidnapped. Instead of a ransom, Alex’s kidnapper, a criminal recently released from prison after 20 years, demands that Isabel return a box that her abusive father, state prosecutor Hendrik Kroon, stole from him 25 years earlier, shortly before Hendrik died in what the police ruled a suicide. To save Alex, Isabel must figure out what was going on between the kidnapper and her father in the past. A complicated but not convoluted plot with several unexpected twists matches well-developed characters, most of whom aren’t who they appear to be. Readers will be left wondering what’s next for Isabel. (Apr.)