False positive A novel

A seven-year-old boy is missing, taken right from his bed in his nice home in suburban Birmingham, Alabama. Two cops are assigned to investigate, and it's a joy to watch them work. Interviewing the anxious parents, they notice which question has Mom jiggling her foot. They follow up and learn this is not a sitcom family after all. Questioning the neighbors, they read hints that the missing little angel is far from it. A nice creepy note sounds when one cop is confronted by a frail old man, who cries, She knows! and collapses. After cheering this wonderful opening, readers may wonder what went wrong. Suddenly, we're in a confusing and not very interesting story that involves gangsters and sex traffickers, rapists, murderers, drug dealers, and other creeps who are here, sadly, a dull lot. Things improve a bit when we get to the story behind the story, which involves genetic evil, and the final page is smashing. But there are some bumps in the getting there.--Crinklaw, Don Copyright 2015 Booklist

Grant (Run) starts strong in the first of a new series featuring volatile Birmingham, Ala., police detective Cooper Devereaux, who seems to spend as much time suspended from the force as he does on the job. Cooper and his new partner, detective Jan Loflin, investigate the kidnapping of seven-year-old foster child Ethan Crane. Cooper and Jan are oddly suited to work together-she's emotionally damaged from her long stint of deep undercover for the vice squad, and he had a disturbing childhood and became a teenage criminal before going straight. Their pasts aren't window dressing but play an important part in the story. Cooper uncovers a link between Ethan's disappearance and those of other foster children through the years. Scenes smoothly alternate between the investigation and the female kidnapper, who watches Cooper as intently as she does her next target. The plot stalls midway, but revs up toward the denouement, with a sly twist at the end. Agent: Janet Reid, FinePrint Literary Management. (Jan.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

A fast-moving thriller about a flawed cop searching for an abducted child.Detective Cooper Devereaux returns to duty in Birmingham, Alabama, after an unjust suspension. He's partnering with Detective Jan Loflin to search for Ethan Crane, one in a series of missing children, a 7-year-old foster child who is "not the little angel everyone's making him out to be." Devereaux is no saint either, having led an early life of crime and earned a spotty disciplinary record as a cop. He'd once justifiably shot a kid, and he'd only hurt "people who deserved to be hurt," but his captain calls him a disgrace and an embarrassment. Devereaux still dreams about his own disturbing childhood, which turns out to be more relevant than idle navel-gazing. The story's heavy focus on his background fits in neatly with the plot. Brief chapters (many are too brief) show that a mysterious woman is watching the detective even as she holds Ethan and plans to give the boy a "treat." She has done the same for other children, whose backgrounds all follow a common thread. As to her identity, suspicion even falls on Loflin. Meanwhile, bodies turn up. For example, Devereaux finds the corpse of Hayden Tomcik, a retired cop he knew as a child. Devereaux is filled with self-doubtperhaps any good feeling he harbors about himself is a "false positive" and his true character is "written in his genes." Readers who like defects in their heroes will love this guy, who knows he's not as good as he'd like to be. The final twist comes just as all finally seems well with the world. A dark, enjoyable novel. One of Grant's (RUN, 2014, etc.) better works. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.