By Lisa Unger
Crown, $24.00, 358 pages
ISBN 9780307464996

Reintroducing Maggie and Jones Cooper in her latest novel, Darkness, My Old Friend, Unger weaves together four stories that come together for thrilling resolution.

Since resigning from the Hollows Police Department, Jones tried to find ways to occupy his time by helping neighbors with menial tasks. But when local psychic, Eloise Montgomery, shows up at his front door, she tells Jones about a vision involving him. Jones wonders what the implications mean, his life with Maggie, and their future. Willow Graves, a recent Hollows transplant, hangs out with a crowd at school that causes her writer-mother, Bethany, to keep close tabs on her. When Willow skips school, she spies a man digging a hole in the woods. Is he hiding something or searching for someone? Michael Holt returns to the Hollows after his father’s death and searches for answers regarding his mother’s disappearance. He enlists the help of Eloise and her pal, Ray Muldune, but can Michael handle the truth? And there’s Paula Carr, who recruits Jones to search for her husband’s ex-wife, who is also MIA. Her stepson, Cole, questions why she left him. Paula just wants the truth.

Unger’s story is evenly paced, yet races toward a satisfying conclusion in this beautiful mystery. Readers may want to read Fragile first to understand Jones’ and Maggie’s backstory.

“Willow didn’t answer; she just turned and started to run. She fumbled for her phone, which was still ringing. It was so loud, piercing. Why did she have the ringer up so loud? But just as she got it from her pocket, it slipped from her fingers. She turned to see him standing, watching her run but not running himself, just following her with those eyes and an odd, almost mocking smile.”

Reviewed by LuAnn Schindler