All Day and a Night by Alafair Burke is the fifth book in the “Ellie Hatcher” suspense series. Publisher: HarperCollins, June 2014

When psychotherapist Helen Brunswick is murdered in her Park Slope office, the entire city suspects her estranged husband—until the District Attorney’s office receives an anonymous letter. The letter’s author knows a chilling detail that police have kept secret: the victim’s bones were broken after she was killed. Her injuries were eerily similar to the signature used twenty years earlier by Anthony Amaro, a serial killer serving a life sentence for his crimes. Now, Amaro is asking to be released from prison, arguing that he was wrongly convicted, and that the true killer is still on the loose.

NYPD Detectives Ellie Hatcher and JJ Rogan are tapped as the “fresh look” team to reassess the original investigation that led to Amaro’s conviction. The case pits them against both their fellow officers and a hard-charging celebrity defense lawyer with a young associate named Carrie Blank, whose older sister was one of Amaro’s victims.

As the NYPD and Amaro’s lawyers search for certainty among conflicting evidence, their investigations take them back to Carrie’s hometown, where secrets buried long ago lead to a brutal attack—one that makes it terrifyingly clear that someone has gotten too close to the truth.

Alafair has done it again by delivering a suspenseful and compelling drama that had me turning the pages in this thrilling story with a well-developed plot where a past crime haunts the present when Hatcher and Rogan are asked to take a “fresh-look.” The more I read, the more this story pulled me in as the intensity of what was going on inched towards a conclusion worthy of our two lead characters. With great characterizations, a nice evenly flow and provoking dialogue, this was a terrific read and one of the best book yet in this fabulous series and I can’t wait to see what Alafair pens next.