Nightshade

How it reads

Nightshade is mystery (police procedural, specifically), and its dominant mood is tense. The suspense is the kind you feel in your shoulders. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in a big city setting, in the present day, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are justice, secrets and redemption. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It's a later book in a series — you'll usually want to start earlier. The ending resolves happily. At 352 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's a mega-bestseller — the book everyone seems to have read.