Crosshairs

The sixteenth installment in the Detective Michael Bennett series opens with Adam Glossner, a 41-year-old hedge-fund manager, standing on the balcony of his Upper West Side apartment. A bullet strikes him in the head before he can register the sound. His wife, Victoria, discovers his body hours later.

Detective Michael Bennett, the first-person narrator and lead detective with Manhattan North Homicide in the New York Police Department (NYPD), receives an early-morning call from his boss, Lieutenant Harry Grissom. Harry reveals this is the third killing by a sniper operating across New York City. The earlier victims were Marie Ballard, a single grandmother in Queens, and Thomas Bannon, a firefighter on Staten Island. The press has dubbed the shooter "the Longshot Killer." At the crime scene, Victoria hints at "rough spots" in her husband's business before her mother ends the interview.

Bennett's home life provides a counterpoint to the investigation. He is recently married to Mary Catherine and is the father of ten adopted children. Mary Catherine is undergoing fertility treatments, and Bennett's grandfather, Seamus, an elderly Catholic priest, helps look after the household.

Harry assigns Bennett as lead on all three cases and pairs him with Rob Trilling, a 24-year-old former Army Ranger now with the NYPD. Bennett's analyst, Walter Jackson, discovers that Trilling was recently transferred from the department's Emergency Service Unit (ESU), an elite tactical division, to a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) fugitive task force under unusual circumstances. Trilling's military record reveals a Bronze Star for protecting a medical unit in Afghanistan and outstanding rifle skills. When Trilling arrives and overhears Bennett reviewing his file, he is guarded and hostile, calling the assignment a punishment.

The two visit each crime scene, where Trilling's tactical expertise proves invaluable as he identifies the sniper's firing positions. A trip to West Point deepens Bennett's understanding of his partner: Trilling's former platoon leader, Captain Isaiah Hawks, describes his heroism in Afghanistan and his moral courage in stopping allied soldiers from abusing prisoners. On the range, Trilling demonstrates exceptional marksmanship. Yet his persistent silences and unexplained absences continue to frustrate Bennett.

Several early suspects are eliminated through interviews and alibi verification. A lead on a former military contractor takes Bennett and Trilling to a Bronx warehouse, where they discover five Pakistani women processing heroin under duress. A man inside opens fire, and Trilling saves Bennett's life before subduing the shooter. Trilling insists the women be treated as victims, not criminals.

Chapters narrated from Trilling's third-person perspective reveal his personal struggles. He has severe insomnia and takes a powerful sedative prescribed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that can cause him to perform complex activities while unconscious. He is also privately pursuing a fugitive who brutalized a former girlfriend, driven by a childhood memory of his father striking his mother.

Bennett and Trilling interview Joseph Tavarez, a former NYPD sniper now in an administrative role at One Police Plaza, the department's headquarters. Tavarez cooperates and mentions his former Army spotter, Darnell Nash, whom he helped get an analyst job at the FBI. Nash lost a foot to an improvised explosive device (IED). Bennett later meets both Tavarez's wife, Cindy, an FBI analyst, and Nash at the Bureau's office.

The case darkens when Gus Querva, a Bronx community activist whom Trilling had identified as a gang leader, becomes the fourth victim. Trilling does not answer his phone the night of the murder and appears only the next morning, claiming his sedative put him into a deep sleep. A witness describes the shooter as a white male, about six feet tall, with short dark hair and a musical instrument case. The description matches Trilling.

Bennett investigates his partner covertly. The supervising psychiatrist at Trilling's VA clinic confirms the sedative can cause unconscious activity. When confronted, Trilling reveals he sees a VA therapist for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and that his medical disclosures are the real reason the NYPD moved him from ESU. He cannot account for his activities under the sedative's influence. He also discloses he was not at therapy that morning but at immigration court, attending a hearing for the Pakistani women.

The FBI then discovers a .308 rifle casing, the same caliber used in the killings, in the trunk of an FBI vehicle Trilling had returned. Bennett presents his concerns to Harry, who agrees they must notify command staff. Internal Affairs Sergeant Dennis Wu interviews Trilling and reads him his Miranda rights. Trilling grows angry, requests an attorney, places his gun and badge on the desk, and walks out. Wu declares Trilling the sniper. Bennett insists on an unbiased investigation.

Working through FBI reports, Bennett discovers a pattern: Each victim committed crimes for which they were not prosecuted, and each case was handled by the FBI. The FBI settled Glossner's securities fraud without an indictment. Bannon was caught downloading child pornography on a New York City Fire Department (FDNY) computer but was allowed to retire quietly. Ballard embezzled over $100,000 from the Housing Authority. A closed FBI racketeering investigation into Querva produced no charges.

Simultaneously, Bennett uncovers evidence clearing Trilling. A leave request shows Trilling was at a VA counseling retreat in Albany the week Bannon was shot. Security footage places him inside his apartment building the entire night of Querva's murder. When a fifth victim, Scott Dozier, a young activist given probation for trying to set a patrol car on fire, is shot during a weekday morning, an NYPD personnel officer confirms Trilling was sitting in her office at the exact time. The forensic report on the .308 casing shows no DNA or fingerprints, suggesting it was wiped clean and planted.

With Trilling exonerated, Bennett shifts suspicion to Tavarez, who used a Remington 700 firing .308 rounds and whose wife's FBI position could have given him access to the case referrals. Bennett secures Trilling's reinstatement, apologizes, and together they set a trap: A fake memo about a corrupt cooperating officer is routed through the analysts' rooms at both NYPD headquarters and the FBI.

The operation takes a shocking turn when Tavarez appears at the surveillance car, having deduced the trap from the memo. Before Bennett can react, a rifle shot shatters the windshield. A second bullet strikes Tavarez in the back and kills him. The shooter escapes. At the FBI, Bennett asks who saw the memo. When the analysts' roster reaches Nash's name, colleagues pause. Bennett realizes Nash is the killer, and Nash is spotted fleeing the building.

Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) Robert Lincoln joins Bennett and Trilling in a high-speed pursuit that ends at a construction site in South Brooklyn. Lincoln draws Nash's fire as a decoy while Bennett sprints across open ground under covering fire from Trilling's AR-15. Bennett tackles Nash and fights him hand-to-hand until Lincoln arrives to handcuff him.

At NYPD headquarters, Nash confesses. He explains that eliminating unpunished criminals gave him purpose after his military service. He apologizes to Trilling for planting the casing, acknowledging he exploited Trilling's background to frame him. Nash reveals he did not know Tavarez was near the car and is devastated to have killed his best friend.

In the aftermath, Bennett discovers the five Pakistani women are living in Trilling's apartment; Trilling sponsored them after their immigration hearing to keep them from a government facility. Mary Catherine privately shows Bennett a positive pregnancy test. That Friday, the family gathers at Columbia University, where Bennett's daughter Jane delivers a speech about adoption, family, democracy, and how her diverse siblings mirror the city, earning a standing ovation. Bennett, overcome with emotion, blurts out the pregnancy news. The children erupt in celebration, and Jane good-naturedly chides Bennett for stealing her spotlight.