In Slaughter's latest thriller, Deputy U.S. Marshall Andrea ("Andy") Oliver, a rookie on the force, takes an assignment in Baltimore to protect a judge who's been receiving death threats. For Andy, the assignment has a personal element: the judge is the mother of Emily Vaughn, who was murdered decades earlier, and it is possible that Andy's biological father, the incarcerated cult leader Nick Harp, was Emily's killer. Slaughter's Pieces of Her (2018) introduced Andy, but it focused on her mother, Laura; here the attention turns to Andy, who has grown into a strong woman (much like Laura) and is determined to dig deeper into her complex family history. But can she find her way through 40 years of cover-up and conspiracy to uncover the truth about Emily, who was killed just as she was about to graduate from high school? It's a terrific premise, and Slaughter really goes to town with it. Layer upon layer of mystery, a great cast of characters, and some genuinely startling twists. This is Slaughter at her best. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Slaughter's thrillers always draw a crowd, but this one will benefit from the popularity of the Netflix series based on Pieces of Her, which stars Bella Heathcoate as Andy.

Sent to Longbill Beach to protect a judge who's been receiving death threats, newly minted U.S. Marshal Andrea Oliver has something else on her mind: she hopes to discover who killed Emily Vaughn there on her prom night in 1982. With a 250,000-copy first printing.

Bestseller Slaughter's gripping follow-up to 2018's Pieces of Her takes Andrea Oliver, a newly minted U.S. marshal, and her partner, Deputy Leonard Bible, to Longbill Beach, Del., to protect federal judge Esther Vaughn, who has received a series of threatening letters. Longbill Beach happens to have been the childhood hometown of Andrea's psychopathic father, Clayton Morrow, who was convicted of domestic terrorism and is now up for parole. Andrea believes Clayton poses a threat to her mother's safety if he's released from prison. In 1982, Clayton was a suspect in the murder of Judge Vaughn's 18-year-old daughter, Emily. If Andrea can prove Clayton guilty of this crime, he will remain behind bars. Deputy Bible, too, has a private agenda and is looking into a series of suicides that have occurred in the area. Captivating flashbacks follow Emily in the period leading up to her death as she engages in a Columbo-inspired investigation of her own. Was what happened to Emily a prelude to even more horrific crimes? Andrea's complicated backstory at times slows the pace, but readers eager to see justice for Emily will keep turning the pages. Slaughter reliably entertains. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Assoc. (Aug.)

Forty years after the unsolved murder of a Delaware teen, a newly minted U.S. marshal on an apparently unrelated assignment is pulled back into the case. Emily Vaughn is well and truly cast out. Discovering that she's pregnant even though she has no recollection of having had sex with anyone, she refuses to follow the edict of her censorious parents to name the father and force him into marriage. In return, they turn on her with a grim intensity only Slaughter could summon. But Emily doesn't do cast-out. Even after she's expelled from her school, she shows up at the senior prom in full regalia and is shunned and shamed by virtually everyone who sees her before she's brutally struck down by a shadowy figure. Decades after her death, newly anointed Marshal Andrea Oliver, who knows more than a little about domestic problems--her biological father is doing time for his misdeeds as a psychopathic cult leader--is assigned as part of her initial rotation to protect Judge Esther Rose Vaughn, who's received a series of florid death threats punctuated by a dead rat. Starchy Esther, it turns out, was Emily's mother, and Andrea's gig will bring her uncomfortably close to both Esther and Judith Vaughn, the daughter doctors managed to keep Emily alive long enough to bring to birth 40 years ago. Slaughter is less interested in revealing whodunit than in showcasing the many ways Emily was rejected by her peers, her teacher, and her family and the bitter legacy her supposed transgression left behind, and she brings her trademark intensity to every relationship she lays bare. Like touching a live wire that continues across three generations. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.