4 stars out of 5
In the previous book, Violent Crimes investigator Jessica Neimi lost her police department boss, mentor and lover, Erne; now, she must deal with a new and far less friendly supervisor nicknamed Hallu. After a night of partying with a famous singer, a popular blogger named Lisa Yammamoto and her friend Jason Nervander go missing. Jessica, her colleague Yusef and the rest of the team are assigned the case with few clues to go on. Then, police find another woman's body on a beach near a lighthouse; who she is isn't known (except that she's not the missing Lisa), but she's wearing a schoolgirl uniform resembling a Manga character even though she's well beyond school age. Also suspicious is a ring of round marks on her arm that suggest some kind of torture.
As if trying to find the missing duo and a murderer now dubbed the "Phantom," Jessica must deal with her past and a big secret she's been keeping from everyone except Erne. Her supervisor would like nothing more than to discredit her (with an ultimate goal of getting her off the force one way or another). Jessica is still mourning the loss of Erne. Forge on she must, but the only clues point to a rare kind of poison used in "kambo" ceremonies and the aforementioned schoolgirl costumes.
There are some twists as the investigation moves along, and I'll be honest in saying that things got a bit confusing in spots (one character, for instance, was found dead in one chapter by another character and bit the dust again several chapters later, found by a different character). But that aside, it was an adventure I enjoyed very much, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy.
The Ice Coven by Max Seeck (Berkley, September 2021); 464 pp.
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