cover image Deep Dark Night: Lori Anderson Book Four

Deep Dark Night: Lori Anderson Book Four

Steph Broadribb Orenda. (IPG, dist.), $15.95 trade paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-913193-17-1

In Thriller Award–finalist Broadribb’s unremarkable fourth thriller featuring Florida bounty hunter Lori Anderson (after 2019’s Deep Dirty Truth), FBI agent Alex Monroe enlists Anderson in a sting to nail Chicago mob boss Cabressa . She’s to lure Cabressa into acquiring a $1 million chess set from her, so that he can be busted for possession of stolen goods, an arrest that Monroe improbably claims would disrupt Cabressa’s grip on the Windy City. Cabressa takes the bait and arranges to get the set from Anderson during the course of a high-stakes poker game. JT , her daughter’s father, acts as her bodyguard and accompanies her to the site of the game, the penthouse of a luxury high-rise. The stakes rise when a citywide blackout disrupts the game, placing the lives of Anderson and JT at risk. The improbable plot, which riffs off an Agatha Christie classic, isn’t compensated for by memorable prose or any emotional depth. Fans of the Die Hard movies may find this an acceptable print substitute. Agent: Oli Munson, A.M. Heath (U.K.). (Sept.)