Last Night is the second installment in the Searcher series. Book one, A Map of the Dark, kept me engrossed and I enjoyed the author's writing style. This one could be read as a stand-alone, as the main character in the first book, FBI agent Elsa Myers has a much smaller role, and detective Lex Cole is in charge of this case.

The story revolves around two teenagers, Crisp and Glynnie. Glynnie is white, wealthy, and has all the opportunity in the world, which she chooses to ignore. Crisp is poor, biracial, and the valedictorian of his class. He's had to struggle for everything he has and his whole world is about to implode.

The difference between Glynnie and Crisp are numerous. Their backgrounds, their opportunities( or lack thereof), and the whole way each of them sees the world, through privileged rose-colored glasses or the reality of being a disadvantaged youth. Circumstances bring these two together, and it's a story about how one decision, can change your life.

While I didn't like this as much as A Map in the Dark, that is most likely due to my wanting more of Elsa's story. Maybe the author, like Tana French and her murder squad books, has plans to rotate among law enforcement characters with those with a lesser role more prominently featured (I'm only guessing here). Only time will tell, but I would like to see where Karen Ellis goes next.
I received a DRC from Mulholland Books through NetGalley .3.5 stars.

A worthy follow-up to Ellis' A Map of the Dark. A first purchase where the first title was popular and a highly recommended buy along with Map of the Dark for collections where thrillers are popular.

An ARC from Netgalley- Titus, known as Crisp is to go to Princeton after being valedictorian at graduation the next day is riding his bike home after school and is stopped by a policeman and arrested. He meets up with Glynnie who also graduated. That's when all the trouble begins when they meet with Glynnie's young drug dealer JJ. The story gets intense with them getting involved in buying a gun from Dante Green a gun dealer. Their parents report them missing and Detective. Lex Cole and Detective Saki Finley are on the case trying to find them. Just like Book I this is a fast read, suspenseful and exciting up to the end!

Another great book. Ms. Ellis knows her stuff. Three young persons (not children but not adults) set out on a quest and things spiral out of control very quickly. Adults know: "This is NOT a good idea." The author has us follow them right into the arms of gun and drug sellers. Nothing good ever comes out of that. We follow the three of them Lex tries to find out what is going on and where are they. Interesting and entertaining read. This one is recommended too.

This was a good book. I really liked the main characters -- Titus (Crisp), Glynnie, and JJ -- because of the diversity and complexity of the characters. Crisp and Glynnie are recent high school graduates and just barely adults, and the author does a good job of portraying the awkwardness of that age, as they are testing boundaries and trying to figure themselves out. JJ is a young teenager, but has been forced to grow-up way too fast; in some ways, he is smarter/wiser than Glynnie and Crisp, but in other ways he is still quite naïve. The plot revolves around some impetuous decisions by Crisp and then Glynnie that result in the two of them, plus JJ, venturing someplace they should not be and getting themselves into a rather dangerous situation that will have lifechanging ramifications for all of them.

While the first book in the series revolved around Elsa Meyers as the primary law enforcement officer, she makes only token appearances in this book. Instead, Lex Cole is the primary LEO in this book, along with a female detective, Saki Finley, who is involved in the search for Glynnie after she goes missing. Detective Finley is a character I would like to see appear in future books.

The author touches on a number of relevant social and cultural topics -- homelessness, drug use and addiction, racism, abusive behavior by police, immigration policy, economic inequality, navigating the world as a multi-racial individual in a society that tends to categorize based on race, etc.

I read a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Sorry- this book was not for me. I struggled to maintain interest and finally gave up. The book is well written but I found the characters to be unappealing.

4.35 stars
Thank you to Netgalley and Mulholland Books for allowing me to read an advanced copy for an honest review.

This is the second novel in a relatively new series. I was given the chance to download both books so I spent the last few days reading them. The first book in the series is called "A Map of the Dark".

This is a bit of a harder story to review as I don't really want to give anything away and since this is more of a slow burn type of novel not much actually happens. I would say that this is more like a slice of life procedural novel.

Titus "Crisp" Crespo is about to graduate but one bad night puts everything he has worked so hard for at risk. The lead character is Detective Lex Cole and though the character had real potential I feel as if there was just something missing with him. I felt that the main character Elsa Meyers from the last book had a much stronger voice. I did really like the LBGTQ+ rep in the book Cole could have been written a bit better.

All in all I really enjoyed this series and I plan to continue on with the series.

This book heavily emphasizes the disparity between races, between rich and poor, and is written in a way that makes you feel the hopelessness of wrong place, wrong time. It's the story of two teenagers, Glynnie - rich and academically apathetic, and Crisp, not so advantaged but with a bright future ahead. When they decide to join in an adventure one night, they meet up with a homeless youth who Glynnie knows from her weed buys, and it's there that things start to go downhill. I was rooting for Crisp, for his unknown father, and for JJ to all find their way out of the mess.

I didn't realize this was the second book in a series. It's a stand alone, but references to Elsa had me wondering if I missed something. I do have A Map of the Dark reserved, so that will soon be remedied!

Great read! It’s twisty and surprising with a strong plot that held my interest until the end. This is the story of two young people in New York, widely divided by their different backgrounds. It examines a number of issues including the inequality of lives and how a one simple decision can change your future. The tension, suspense, depth of the characters and pacing made this a great read. I love this book! I highly recommend it! Thank you NetGalley for the Advance Reader Copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is the story of two young people in New York, widely divided by race and privilege. Crisp is a smart boy, biracial but black to the world, valedictorian of his class. Glynnie is a smart aleck rich girl, who just managed to graduate and delights in giving her parents grief. She sees Crisp playing basketball in the cage on top of the jail when he was arrested basically for being black. Not wanting her to think badly of him, Crisp stops by her house when he gets out to explain why he was arrested and gets taken in by her differences . There follows the worst night of their young lives. The book takes us from Crisp’s modest neighborhood to Glynnie’s well-to-do neighborhood to the Projects. It is also a story of addiction and weaknesses and misunderstandings and assumptions.but it is also a story of working things out, learning from your mistakes, taking the consequences, and hope. I can’t say it is the best book I ever read but it is a thought provoking look into a world at first foreign to me in white middle class suburbia. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read it.

Last Night begins about as slow as a molasses drip. I really enjoyed Elsa's character in the first book of this series and Lex as more of a supporting role. In this book Lex takes on the lead and I found the flaws in his character not as easy to empathize with as Elsa's was. His jealousy almost had me closing the book before I was a quarter way through. The suspense builds real slow in the beginning, it was almost halfway in before I finally was snagged on the hook enough to care about what was happening to Glynnie, J.J., and Crisp. The ending is better than the beginning but this book fell short of the first one in the series for me. The next book in the series will be iffy for me whether I try it or not. This book is just okay. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.

Second book in this series, however works as a standalone. I liked this book better than the first, and I liked it too. Lex is a good character, and it was nice to catch up with Elsa and the friendship from the first. This is more a police procedural finding missing teens and intersecting story lines that make the teen characters grow up, and maybe realize they don't know everything and nobody is going to bail you out of your problems you cause for yourself. There is no big mystery, good storytelling of how you can just keep digging yourself into more trouble. I liked the way the book laid the story out and the resolution. These are flawed main characters made human by their pasts, and uncertainty of the future.

I enjoyed the next installment featuring Lex, and the new detectives in this book. The continuation of insights into the teenage psyche is shocking and fascinating at the same time. The drug and gun culture is portrayed so realistically I found myself becoming tense, A very fast paced plot with incredibly real situations faced by youth today. While the book is in a series it can be enjoyed as a stand alone.

This was such a satisfying read. The writing was so strong, the characters so fully-fleshed, the insights so penetrating that I would have read on for pleasure without the hook of suspense -- or rather, of dread -- over the fates of three young people in danger in New York City.

This is the first book I've read of Karen Ellis's; I missed A Map of the Dark, the first in this series. I plan to remedy that soon, since I've already reserved the e-book from my library. The point is, my pleasure in this book wasn't dimmed by coming into a series at mid-point.

Another element I liked was the compressed time frame. The story occurs over a span of -- what? 36 hours? In that brief period, enough happens that we get a clear look into the inner and outer lives of perhaps a dozen characters, from materialistic Baby Boomers to a sinister arms dealer and and a young homeless boy living rough on his own. And these were just the peripheral characters.

Last Night should resonate with anyone who has shown up at a demanding job and tried to function in the face of personal heartbreak, extreme lack of sleep, or the lure of addiction. Lex, the detective in search of the brilliant, mixed-race, newly graduated Crisp, is battling all three, yet his good mind and good heart serve him well.

Crisp, too, has a good mind and good heart, but he is confused about his racial identity, he's just suffered an outrageous indignity at the hands of the police, his prefrontal cortex is several years shy of maturity -- and, well, there's a girl involved. Crisp makes one bad decision that seems to snowball. Whether his wits can save him is an iffy thing.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance reader's copy of this book.

I was disappointed with this story after reading the first book in the series. Readers will find out more about Lex as he tries to find Crisp but Elsa is barely in the book. This was just an okay book.

I loved this book. It was full of mystery and suspense! This is the second book I have read by this author, and I just love her writing style. It just sucks you right in!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

In this second book in the Searchers series, Lex takes the lead with Elsa consulting. Lex is having problems with Adam and isn't sure if they are even a couple anymore. But work is work and this is a case that just keeps getting more tangled up. 

Titus "Crisp" Crespo is a mixed race kid from Brighton Beach. Raised by his mother and grandparents, Crisp is a smart guy a day away from graduating as Valedictorian when he is arrested on a charge of riding a bike on the sidewalk, so instead of going home, he gets tossed in jail for a night. From the roof he can see into the patio of a high-rise and a girl sitting smoking a joint and getting some sun. They both realize they met last summer and when Crisp is released he goes to meet Glynnie to explain why he was up there.

Crisp is a straight arrow. He doesn't get into trouble. He's going to Princeton.

Glynnie is the opposite of Crisp. Rich. Doesn't care about school or college. And she is white.

When she begs him to come with her to visit her weed dealer, he impulsively agrees and that one bad decision leads them on a road that neither of them wanted to be on. 

Now stuck in the projects with an arms dealer and a dead body they may not have to worry about college or anything else.

I felt so sorry for Lex in this one. Not just because he battles his own demons while battling real life bad guys, but because of the kids. Not one of them is telling the whole truth about that day. Now he has to think like a teenager. Which means don't think. 

I liked these characters and this series feels as if it is going in the right direction! A good one!

Well Done!

Netgalley/February 26th 2019 by Mulholland Books

Good read. It held my interest. Enjoyed the way Karen Ellis shaped Crisp and Glynnie through family dynamics. JJ stole my heart.
Many thanks to Karen Ellis, Mulholland books, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book before its publication on February 26th.

Dark, nuanced, twisty and surprising, LAST NIGHT opens the door on family secrets and neighborhoods which spring to life on every page. Well-crafted characters and a compelling plot keep the pages turning--

Last Night is book 2 in The Searchers series by Karen Ellis (pseudonym Katia Lief). In Last Night we have as a main character Detective Lex Cole, who was also in A Map of the Dark, and worked that case along side FBI agent Elsa Myers. Ms Myers was in Last Night, but more as a "bit player" than one involved in the action. I find this an enjoyable series and am looking forward to whatever comes next. I was given an early copy to review.