The 9th Girl
Hoag’s immense popularity—15 consecutive best-sellers—is based not only on her well-oiled, finely calibrated plots but also on her sensitivity to the painful interface between family troubles and crime and the complex demands women detectives face, especially one of her most popular characters, “small but mighty” Nikki Liska of Minneapolis. Last seen in Prior Bad Acts (2006) with her partner, Sam Kovac, Liska is a single mother currently worried about her caring and artistic 15-year-old son, Kyle. Guilt and fear build as she and Kovacs work around the clock to identify a horribly mutilated young woman found dead on New Year’s Eve and figure out if she is the ninth victim of the serial killer they sardonically call Doc Holiday. As the investigation veers awfully close to Liska’s home, Hoag makes shrewd use of the roles cell phones and social media play in teens’ lives as forums for bonding and bullying. Hoag’s prose is martial-arts quick and precise, her humor is high-voltage, and her insights into the misery of high school, the toxicity of divorce, and the extreme psychosis of a serial killer are knowing and thought-provoking.       HIGH-DEMAND BACK STORY: Liska and Kovac are huge draws for Hoag fans, and Hoag’s latest, one of her very best, will be promoted with major radio and blog tours and abundant advertising and press coverage. --Donna Seaman