Girls like Us

FBI agent Nell Flynn, the 28-year-old narrator of this propulsive thriller from Alger (The Banker’s Wife), returns home to Hampton Bays, N.Y., to bury her father, homicide detective Martin Flynn, who died at 52 in a motorcycle accident. Even though Nell, who’s on leave from the FBI after killing a member of the Russian mafia and taking a bullet in the shoulder, is anxious to settle his estate and turn her back on the town where her mother was murdered 21 years earlier, she agrees to help rookie homicide detective Lee Davis investigate the murders of two women. Nell and Lee soon uncover evidence pointing to police corruption, a local prostitution ring, and even her father, who was keeping his own secrets, but was he actually involved in victimizing vulnerable young women? As Nell seeks to unearth the truth in a small town determined to keep its secrets, she comes squarely into a killer’s crosshairs. Alger expertly ratchets up the suspense all the way to the explosive finale. Readers will hope to see more of tough, smart Nell. [em]Author tour. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM. (July) [/em]