October 6, 2014
ER doctor Angela Rossi, the heroine of this overheated thriller from Lyons (Critical Condition), works in Cambria City, Pa., a city figuratively owned by Daniel Kingston. The mogul literally owns the massive housing development Kingston Tower, which is run for him by gang leader Tyree Willard. While trying to save the life of gunshot victim Sister Patrice, Rossi experiences a fugue state in which she hears the nun’s voice tell her to “save the girl.” To do that, Rossi must discover a subterranean world extending for blocks beneath Kingston Tower. It is also a world in which wealth and corruption have allowed a culture of rape, torture, child abuse, and murder to flourish. Rossi is aided by Det. Matthew Ryder and the mysterious Devon Price, who is also seeking the missing girl for reasons of his own. Rossi struggles to deal with her increasingly worrisome mental state, her attraction to Ryder, and the horrors of the Tower. Readers should be prepared for an improbable plot and cast.