STRANGERS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Black women are going missing in Chicago, and Redding Stark, a Black woman cop, refuses to give up on their cases.

Even after getting shot and then shooting an innocent civilian, and even as her son and husband drift further and further away from her, Redding follows what she refers to as “a tortuous kind of calling…[that] requires the sacrifice of everything.” When influencer Natalie Moore disappears from her room at The Ivory, an exclusive hotel, Redding believes she might be victim number six—if only Redding can find the connection among them. One of the last people to have seen the latest missing woman is Giovanni Mason, the first Black chief concierge at The Ivory, who was caught on camera slapping Natalie at dinner the night she disappeared. Gio and Natalie have a complicated history; in fact, everything feels complicated for Gio at present, as she struggles to balance her job making other people happy with any sense of what she wants in life, and as she watches her mother, who worked in housekeeping at The Ivory for decades, succumb to cancer. Soon she finds herself drawn into Redding’s case, determined to conduct her own investigation as they get pulled deeper and deeper into a corrupt and violent conspiracy. There is a very noir tone to this novel: the invocation of the city; the uncovering of evil at high levels of power; the wounded, vulnerable detective—and, in many ways, the femme fatale—all these elements work to amplify the search for social justice, the pervasive rage, of West’s narrative. For, as she tells us in Redding’s voice, “Only apathy remains when Black women go missing. So, we try and save ourselves.” The ending reiterates that the quest is far from over.

Introduces two strong Black protagonists who speak for the voiceless and fight for the lost.