Reading Ahead: August 2015, part 2

Sometimes there's just no substitute for a good suspense novel. You know, the sort of novel that you think about even when you're not reading it. The kind that makes you stay up long past your bedtime because you just have to know what happens at the end. Here are a few coming out in August that just might fit the bill.

The Last Time I Saw Her, by Karen Robards. Robards treats readers to a paranormal suspense novel guaranteed to thrill. Dr. Charlotte "Charlie" Stone can see the ghosts of those who have left this world under violent circumstances, which comes in handy as she advises a team of FBI special agents. She's also followed by a ghost named Michael, and when she saves him, she realizes her feelings are far more personal than professional. This is the fourth in the series, after The Last Victim, The Last Kiss Goodbye and Her Last Whisper. I'd recommend this for fans of Charlaine Harris, Laurell K. Hamilton, Heather Graham and Deborah Harkness.

Devil’s Bridge, by Linda Fairstein. Seventeenth in Fairstein's bestselling Alexandra Cooper series takes readers someplace they've never been before: inside the mind of Detective Mike Chapman in his most perilous case yet...the disappearance of Alex Cooper herself. Coop’s sudden disappearance is fraught with terrifying complications:  scores of enemies she has made after a decade of putting criminals behind bars; a recent security breach with dangerous repercussions; and a new intimacy in her relationship with Mike, causing the Police Commissioner himself to be wary of the methods Mike will use to get Coop back... if he can.

Friction, by Sandra Brown. Crawford Hunt wants his daughter back. Following the death of his wife four years ago, Crawford, a Texas Ranger, fell into a downward spiral that left him relegated to deskwork and with his five-year-old daughter Georgia in the custody of her grandparents. But Crawford has cleaned up his act, met all the court imposed requirements, and now the fate of his family lies with Judge Holly Spencer.
Holly, ambitious and confident, temporarily occupies the bench of her recently deceased mentor. With an election upcoming, she must prove herself worthy of making her judgeship permanent. Every decision is high-stakes. Despite Crawford's obvious love for his child and his commitment to being an ideal parent, Holly is wary of his checkered past. Her opinion of him is radically changed when a masked gunman barges into the courtroom during the custody hearing. Crawford reacts instinctively, saving Holly from a bullet.
But his heroism soon takes on the taint of recklessness. The cloud over him grows even darker after he uncovers a horrifying truth about the courtroom gunman and realizes that the unknown person behind the shooting remains at large . . .and a threat.

X, by Sue Grafton. Perhaps Grafton's darkest and most chilling novel, X features a remorseless serial killer who leaves no trace of his crimes. Once again breaking the rules and establishing new paths, Grafton wastes little time identifying this sociopath. The test is whether Kinsey can prove her case against him before she becomes his next victim.