Haunted

The novel follows NYPD Detective Michael Bennett through a family crisis and two intertwined investigations, one in Manhattan and one in rural Maine.

Bennett, a detective with the Manhattan North Homicide Squad, participates in the arrest of drug dealer Laszlo Montez for a double homicide. When Montez takes a teenage girl hostage, Bennett disarms him but then beats him savagely until his sergeant intervenes. The outburst stems from a crisis consuming Bennett's personal life: His son Brian has been arrested for selling methamphetamine and ecstasy.

Bennett lives in an Upper West Side apartment with nine of his 10 children and Mary Catherine, an Irish woman who came from Dublin as the family's nanny and has since become his romantic partner. Bennett's late wife, Maeve, died of cancer years earlier, and Mary Catherine holds the family together with help from Bennett's grandfather Seamus, a Catholic priest. The household is grief-stricken over Brian's absence. Bennett visits Brian at Rikers Island, New York City's main pretrial detention facility, where Brian faces up to 10 years in prison and is being charged as an adult. Bennett begs Brian to reveal his drug supplier, but Brian refuses. A lieutenant friend warns that the district attorney's office intends to make an example of Brian to show they prosecute white defendants and cops' sons just as aggressively.

On leave after the Montez beating, Bennett works his network of informants and learns that a new criminal group is using high school students to run its drug operation, with one student serving as a ruthless enforcer. Bennett returns to active duty and is assigned to investigate the murder of Gary Mule, a 15-year-old who was tortured and decapitated. At Gary's school, Bennett learns the killing was a drug hit, and a student named Jimmy Hilcox identifies the suspected killer as Diego Martinez, a sophomore at a charter school who studies at college libraries.

Meanwhile, Mary Catherine reveals that she once dealt drugs as a teenager in Dublin, falling into a destructive cycle until her brother sacrificed his own future to save her. She urges Bennett not to blame himself for Brian's choices. Separately, she investigates at Holy Name school and finds Patrick Marshall, a student dealer who reveals that Brian's supplier is a man named Albert, known as Caracortada (Spanish for "Scarface"), a drug dealer from the Bronx.

Bennett tracks Diego to Columbia University's Butler Library. When Bennett identifies himself as a homicide detective and mentions Gary Mule, Diego pulls a gun from his backpack. A gunfight erupts through the library stacks, and Bennett kills Diego with two shots to the chest. Bystanders who did not witness the exchange accuse Bennett of murder. He insists on notifying Diego's mother personally; she slaps him and calls him a killer.

Brian's trial proceeds at the New York County Courthouse. Assistant District Attorney Chad Laing refuses any plea deal. The prosecution's surveillance evidence proves overwhelming: Narcotics detectives observed Brian dealing and found drugs on him. Defense attorney Stacy Ibarra cannot overcome the facts, and the jury returns a guilty verdict after only 40 minutes.

Bennett passes Mary Catherine's intelligence to a narcotics task force sergeant and helps raid the apartment of Albert Stass in the Bronx. Stass flees but Bennett tackles him in a snow-covered field. When Bennett returns home, he finds his daughter Juliana has called 911 because Seamus is having a heart attack. Bennett carries his grandfather to his police car and races to the hospital, where Seamus flatlines and is revived with defibrillator paddles.

At sentencing, the judge rules that Stass's arrest cannot be tied to Brian's case because Stass refused to cooperate. The judge acknowledges Bennett's service and imposes 5 to 10 years instead of the maximum 25. During a final visit to Rikers, Brian confesses he stayed silent to protect the family from threats of violence by Caracortada's organization. Bennett sobs as corrections officers lead Brian away.

Months later, Mary Catherine suggests a vacation. Bennett's former NYPD partner Sandy Coles, now a police officer in the small town of Linewiler, Maine, arranges a lakeside rental house. The family visits Brian at Gowanda Correctional Facility in western New York, then drives to a Victorian house on Lake Nimicadiota, which Mary Catherine names "Mildew Manor." They settle into an idyllic routine of fishing, swimming, and communal meals.

Sandy enlists Bennett's help and reveals that Linewiler has a serious heroin problem. At a Fourth of July clambake, Bennett notices Sadie, a homeless teenager with a limp and slight facial droop whose mother died the previous year. Soon after, two local teenagers, Tom-Tom Bacon and Tricia Green, disappear. Bennett and Sandy search the woods and find a green Nike shoe belonging to Tricia.

Sandy briefs Bennett on Dell Streeter, a violent Texas ex-convict suspected of dealing heroin from a compound outside town. Bennett confronts Streeter, and on the drive back, Streeter's men ambush and beat both Bennett and Sandy before Streeter declares he runs the county. Sandy then confesses she orchestrated the entire vacation specifically to bring Bennett in on the case.

Sadie leads Bennett and Sandy to a clearing in the woods and reveals her history: Her mother developed a heroin addiction fueled by Streeter and died of an overdose. Sadie herself had a stroke at 15 from an overdose, which caused her limp and facial droop. After the overdose, Streeter buried her alive in the clearing, believing she was dead. She woke up coughing dirt and was threatened with death if she ever spoke. A crime-scene investigation uncovers five graves, including two containing the bodies of Tom-Tom and Tricia.

Streeter is arrested, but the case collapses at arraignment. His attorney argues the case rests on a single teenage witness and that police conduct was outrageous, noting that Bennett slammed Streeter's face into the car roof during the arrest. The assistant district attorney withdraws the charges, and Streeter walks free, taunting Bennett and Sandy and threatening Sadie.

The town erupts. Armed residents demand vigilante justice, and a resident named Mickey Bale is killed in a drive-by shooting. Sadie disappears from the rental house, and Bennett's daughter Chrissy reports that Sadie left to confront "Bill Sweeper," her name for Dell Streeter. Bennett races to the compound in a rainstorm and finds Sadie in the cellar holding a pistol on a wounded Streeter. She forces him to reveal his drug stash's location, then fires a final shot over his head and breaks down crying.

Bennett coaches Sadie to claim self-defense. He then pursues Streeter's bodyguards, D.T. and Billy Ray, and bluffs them into providing a recorded statement confirming the hidden heroin and consenting to a search. The bodyguards also reveal that Streeter killed two Canadian mob representatives months earlier and buried them on the property, providing grounds for murder charges.

On their last day at the lake, Bennett proposes to Mary Catherine during a walk. She says yes, and the children, who followed from the dock, erupt in cheers. Seamus tells Mary Catherine she has always been part of the family. Before leaving Maine, the Bennetts visit Sadie at Sandy's house, where she now lives.

During a final stop at Brian's prison, Brian warns Bennett about an emerging conflict: The Canadian mob is expanding into the U.S. synthetic drug market, brewing a war with Mexican cartels heading toward New York City. Bennett places his hand on the glass partition, and Brian mirrors the gesture. Bennett resolves to worry about drug wars when the time comes, content for now to spend a few more minutes with his son.