Invisible Dead

Canadian author Wiebe’s desultory second novel and series launch (after 2014’s Last of the Independents) introduces Vancouver cop-turned-PI Dave Wakeland. Gail Kirby, who’s dying, hires Wakeland to find out what happened to her drug-addicted adopted daughter, Chelsea Loam, who disappeared more than a decade earlier at age 24. But no sooner does Wakeland start digging than it becomes clear that there are dangerous players—among them, the head of the notorious Exiles motorcycle gang—who want Chelsea’s fate to remain a closed book. Given the detective’s strong white knight streak, nothing could spur him on more, especially once his path crosses that of childhood crush Shay Nelson, a stripper whose escalating drug habit threatens to send her down the same rabbit hole as Chelsea. Despite the enigmatic, intriguing tough guy at its center and gritty local color, the novel’s haphazard plotting and efforts to deliver a message about Vancouver’s vulnerable female sex workers, particularly Native ones, blunt the overall impact. [em]Agent: Chris Bucci, McDermid Agency (Canada). (May) [/em]