cover image Say No More

Say No More

Hank Phillippi Ryan. Forge, $25.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-7653-8535-2

At the start of Mary Higgins Clark Award–winner Ryan’s engrossing fifth Jane Ryland novel (after 2015’s What You See), the Boston-based investigative journalist witnesses a hit-and-run. Jane calls in the perpetrator’s plate number, but the car’s owner insists he’s innocent, earning Jane an invitation to testify in court. When Jane receives an anonymous note warning her to “say no more,” she’s uncertain whether the threat pertains to the accident or her in-progress exposé about campus rape. Meanwhile, Jane’s almost-fiancé, homicide detective Jake Brogan, works to take down the Sholto crime family and investigates the suspicious death of Avery Morgan, a Hollywood screenwriter turned adjunct college professor whose corpse was found floating in her swimming pool. Ryan uses a complex, multifaceted plot to deliver an unflinching look at college sexual assault and examine the “hard line between journalism and law enforcement.” The tension mounts as the action builds to a conclusion that thrills and gratifies. [em]Five-city author tour. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Nov.) [/em]