One Kick: A Novel (A Kick Lannigan Novel)
*Starred Review* Cain has a new publisher and a new series, and even those fans most devoted to the Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell novels will find plenty to race their pulses when they encounter Kick Lannigan, a woman on a mission. Part Lisbeth Salander and part Susan Ward, the punky reporter from the Sheridan-Lowell novels, Kick is a 21-year-old martial-arts expert who was abducted from her Seattle home at age six and rescued five years later, but not before being forced to star in a series of kiddie-porn videos still the rage on the underground Internet. Now Kick is obsessed with tracking other abducted children, especially two who have gone missing in the last three weeks. She reluctantly joins forces with John Bishop, a shady vigilante of sorts, who believes Kick knows more than she thinks she does about where the missing kids might be. Always a master at ratcheting up tension, Cain keeps the narrative in overdrive from beginning to end, slowly releasing tidbits of information from Kick’s repressed memories of her abduction (and the weird father-daughter relationship that developed between her and the now-jailed predator who took her), while allowing the psycho behind the recent crimes to circle ever closer to Kick and her friend James, also an abuse victim. The subject matter is uncomfortable, even stomach-churning at times, but Cain manages to deal sensitively with her material while still allowing Kick’s character to emerge with multifaceted humanity—and even snatches of humor. Above all, though, this is an edge-of-the-chair thriller, and Cain negotiates the twists and turns with finesse while keeping her foot firmly on the gas pedal. Excruciating yet always compelling.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY:   Cain’s best-selling credentials are impeccable: her books have made multiple trips to the NYT best-seller list, been translated into 24 languages, and been named to NPR’s top 100 thrillers of all time. Her new series won’t do anything to diminish that record. --Bill Ott