THE LOWERING

In Jane’s mystery sequel, a longtime private investigator looks into a dubious organization that’s behind unscrupulous experiments—and may be responsible for multiple murders.

In 2019, a pandemic effectively stranded 39-year-old Lila Piper on the Caribbean island of St. Barts for quite a while. So, this self-described “city girl,” once a Chicago private investigator, gladly accepts an offer to rent a small bungalow in San Diego. But she’s quickly reminded of why she fled to the island in the first place: Her psychiatrist in Chicago, who had long been treating her for bipolar disorder, was actually making Lila worse with misprescribed drugs and experimental therapies. A shifty cabal, known only as LPF, was behind the experiments, and now two people associated with LPF have been killed. Lila believes their so-called accidental deaths may be homicides, so she pokes around various American cities with help from a New York City police detective as well as Lila’s old CIA pal, Gus Ambrosia. LPF, it turns out, is involved in all sorts of terrifying things—and if the organization is offing people, it’s a sure bet that Lila will soon be a target. Jane shrouds this second Lila Piper series entry, after The Water Column (2020), in ambiguity; for much of the book, it’s uncertain what LPF’s experiments specifically entail or what its goal is. Rapid, sharp dialogue, however, keeps things engaging, as Lila and her allies exchange theories and compile potential suspects. There’s likewise an incessantly moody atmosphere, from the spine-chilling creature that haunts Lila’s nightmares (“the same luminous ball-shaped demon that had haunted her for her entire life, the same writhing spider-like legs, the same eerily translucent skin”) to apparent hallucinations she experiences. As in the preceding novel, Lila is consistently unruffled; although she fears paranoia slipping into her mindset, she remains a reliable hero. The murkiness of the plot carries over into the final act with an ending that seems aimed at setting up another sequel.

An engaging PI powers a wonderfully eerie thriller.