Ellison's outstanding fifth Taylor Jackson thriller (after February 2010's The Cold Room) pits the homicide cop against a killer in league with the dark side. On Halloween, the day Jackson gets her lieutenant's badge back after being unjustly demoted, somebody ritualistically murders eight teens in one of Nashville's tonier neighborhoods. Jackson could use the help of her fiancé, FBI profiler John Baldwin, but he's been called back to Quantico to face a disciplinary investigation after another agent's files implicate him in a badly mishandled case. Jackson and her crackerjack team are left on their own to systematically locate and analyze every clue. The police procedural details never get in the way of the potent characterization and clever plotting, and Ellison systematically cranks up the intensity all the way to the riveting ending. (Oct.)

Thanks, PW!