SHOOTING AT MIDNIGHT

First-rate suspense about the obligations of friendship—and about a woman who’s forced to make some murderous choices. This is the fourth in the Atticus Kodiak series (Smoker, 1998, etc.), though here the professional bodyguard with the sensibility of a poet is at the periphery of the action. At center-stage, instead, is private eye Bridgett (—Bridie—) Logan, once Atticus’s lover but now estranged, and estranged as well from a good many others she was once close to. Among those is Lisa Schoof, who had been, literally, a life-saving friend. Bridie—magnetic, prickly, arrogant on occasion, charming when the mood is on her, wonderful to look at, impossible to live with—is a recovering junkie. Which, at least in part, explains the uneven quality of her relationships. Lisa knows exactly how that can work to undercut emotional stability, since the two women met while both were getting clean. It was during this period that a tormented Bridie would have propelled herself off a roof one harrowing night if Lisa hadn—t prevented her. Now it’s Lisa who’s in trouble. Drug-free and in hiding for close to ten years, she’s been tracked down by her former dealer, the repellent Vince Lark, who needs money and wants her to get it for him any way she can. If she won’t, or if she fails, he’s promised to hurt her young son, Gabriel. The threat terrifies her, so she calls in her marker: She wants Bridie to help kill Vince, believing that to be her single chance of keeping Gabe safe. But is Bridie still the friend she swore she’d always be? Bridie, racked, produces an alternative solution, and though it succeeds, there are bruising consequences for all concerned, including Atticus. Strong writing and intelligent plotting, but best of all are Rucka’s characters: edgy, complex, interesting to a one. And Bridie is a triumph.