Don't look down

At the start of Davidson's gripping second Shadows of New York novel (after 2019's One Small Sacrifice), successful entrepreneur Jo Greaver confronts a stranger she believes is blackmailing her in his apartment in a seedy Manhattan neighborhood. The two exchange gunfire. NYPD Det. Sheryn Sterling and her partner, Rafael Mendoza, are later called to the scene, where Andray Baxter has been shot dead. Clues lead them to Jo, who's suffering from a bullet wound, and they arrest her after she flees to New Jersey. Initially, the case seems straightforward: Jo killed her blackmailer with the gun the police found in her apartment. But Sheryn doesn't like the case or the evidence: though the ballistics match the bullet found in the murder victim, Jo's prints aren't on the gun. And the well-liked Andray wasn't the criminal type. With Rafael's help, Sheryn is determined to unearth the truth. Davidson keeps the reader guessing to the satisfying conclusion. Crime fiction fans will welcome this tale of family, secrets, resilience, and revenge. Agent: Mitch Hoffman, Aaron M. Priest Literary. (Feb.)

Davidson's (One Small Sacrifice) wildly intense murder mystery grabs the listener from the beginning and holds on to the very end. Jo Greavey built her beauty business from the ground up. But she has secrets she'll pay to protect. She goes to meet her blackmailer expecting to do just that, but is shot instead. She survives and flees. NYPD detectives Sheryn Sterling and Rafael Mendoza are investigating the murder of Andray Baxter, and all signs are pointing to Jo. Still, Sterling isn't sure she did it. The many characters are well written and have complex back stories that enhance the tale. The age-old themes of survival, class, ambition, greed, revenge, love, and deceit all come into play. The cast of veteran narrators, Carly Robins, Will Damron, Scott Merriman, and Shari Peele, are simply excellent. The characters shifting perspective from chapter to chapter allows the narrators to really perform and not just read. Their emotions and nuances are especially well done. VERDICT Recommended for fans of the first book or police procedurals in general.--Scott R. DiMarco, Mansfield Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib.

A blackmail plot produces complications upon complications in a story of sex trafficking, class wars, and stolen identities.Someone is blackmailing Jo Greaver with obscene photos of her previous life as a teenage sex trafficking victim. When she arranges to meet up with the man demanding payment, a gunfight breaks out, leaving Jo wounded and the blackmailer, Andray Baxter, apparently dead. When she returns home to pack a bag before taking it on the lam, Jo can't bear to tell her boyfriend, Cal, what's happened, especially since she's never told Cal about her early life, when she was raised by her drug-addicted sister, Lori, on the mean streets of New York. The presence of Cal's imposing, upper-crust mother, Priscilla McGarran, who just happens to be resting on their couch when Jo enters, doesn't make it easy for Jo to escape, but she thinks she's in the clear once she's left Manhattan behind. Wrong: Her body gives out on her shortly thereafter. The NYPD's Sheryn Sterling has already had a long day picking up her 14-year-old son following his own arrest for protesting deportations while black when she and her partner, Rafael Mendoza, are put on the case. At first it looks like Baxter's murder is cut and dried. After all, he has a note in his pocket that essentially reads "Blackmail Jo Greaver." But clues at the scene and Jo's own behavior when she's arrested make Sheryn suspect that there's more to the story. Davidson incorporates details about Sheryn and Rafael that connect their experiences of being seen and judged by others as a black woman cop and a gay cop who walks with a cane with their willingness to look more closely at Jo and Andray. What they find is enough blackmail, impersonation, and class warfare to seriously complicate what seemed like a straightforward case.Readers won't mind that Davidson keeps moving the goal posts during the finale because the buildup is such a satisfying page-turner. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.