Blue Monday by Nicci French

Blue Monday by Nicci French

The husband-and-wife team writing under the name Nicci French are famous for dark, suspenseful thrillers exploring the seamy underbelly of human psychology. Their latest, Blue Monday, is the first in a new series featuring London psychotherapist Frieda Klein, whose professional talent comes at a great personal cost (she's a chronic insomniac who roams the city before dawn). When a patient confesses he desperately wants a child who resembles him—and then a boy matching that description is abducted—Frieda contacts the police and discovers a link with a much older missing-child case. The story is narrated in a cool, detached style, underscoring the emotional anguish of the children's families and Frieda herself, as she tries to escape her own family trauma.

Blue Monday, Nicci French, $29.