Obsessed

This novel in the Michael Bennett series follows NYPD homicide detective Michael Bennett as he investigates a string of murders targeting young women in New York City while managing the demands of his large family.

Bennett and his partner, Detective Terri Hernandez, ride an NYPD boat on the Hudson River to recover a woman's body. Bennett fears the victim may be Suzanne Morton, a friend of his oldest daughter Juliana who has been missing for three weeks. The body instead belongs to an unidentified young woman in an expensive cocktail dress with a puncture wound in her chest. Terri notes the victim resembles another body found in the Bronx two months earlier: Both were young, attractive, formally dressed, and discarded.

At the Manhattan North Homicide office, Bennett's lieutenant, Harry Grissom, a veteran detective whose superiors have been pushing toward retirement, approves Bennett and Terri working both cases together. Criminal intelligence analyst Walter Jackson identifies the Hudson River victim through FBI fingerprint records as Estella Abreu, a nursing student at Pace University from East Harlem. The Bronx victim is Emma Schrade, a soprano at the Juilliard School.

Bennett and Terri visit the Abreu family, where Estella's mother says her daughter left home the previous evening in casual clothes, contradicting the formal dress she was found wearing. Terri discovers a designer gown in Estella's closet that her mother has never seen. The autopsy reveals Estella died from a cylindrical puncture wound beside her sternum, driven with such force it skewered her heart. Emma Schrade died from strangulation so severe it crushed parts of her windpipe. Both killings indicate an extremely powerful assailant.

At home, Bennett's wife, Mary Catherine, tells him she has begun exploring fertility treatments but is torn between wanting another child and appreciating the family's balance with ten children. Meanwhile, Bennett's sons Ricky, Eddie, and Trent are repeatedly attacked by older boys near their Catholic school, Holy Name. The bullying escalates when one of the boys reveals a pistol in his waistband. Bennett orders his sons to stay on school grounds.

Terri calls with devastating news: Suzanne Morton's body has been found in New Rochelle, north of the city. Bennett meets Suzanne's shattered parents at the police station. The case is assigned to Detective Bill Stanton, nicknamed "Suicide" for his habit of classifying unnatural deaths as suicides. Stanton later admits he is overwhelmed and shares that Suzanne was found nude, killed by blunt trauma to the head.

A tip produces a photo of Estella at a Wall Street party with an unidentified man. Bennett's informant, Ronald Higdon, Esquire, a shrewd pawnshop owner who legally added "Esquire" to his name, identifies the man as Kyle Banning, a 26-year-old investment advisor living in a Fifth Avenue penthouse. Walter discovers Banning has a prior arrest for striking a woman, but the case was dismissed after the victim accepted $20,000 from Banning's family not to pursue charges.

An undercover approach at a bar fails, and a direct confrontation at Banning's office yields nothing. Bennett then finds a photo of Suzanne with Banning on her iCloud account, connecting Banning to a second victim. He infiltrates the Banning family's penthouse and shows Kyle both photos. Kyle appears rattled, calling the women "just arm candy" and mentioning his younger brother Jaden "even took one to a dance." Their father, a powerful attorney, shuts Kyle down and orders Bennett to leave. Bennett notices Jaden's unsettling fascination with the photos and learns he attends the Wolfson Academy, a military-style boarding school in Bronxville.

Touring the Wolfson Academy undercover, Bennett meets football coach Perry Martin, a former Syracuse lineman standing six foot five and weighing 260 pounds. A secretary named Michelle Finnegan tells Bennett that Jaden brought a beautiful older girl to a school dance and boasted about his brother arranging "The Girlfriend Experience," a date-for-hire service. She shows Bennett a dance photo of Jaden with Emma Schrade, connecting the Banning brothers to all three known victims.

Ronald Higdon confirms that The Girlfriend Experience is a small, self-run escort operation in Manhattan. NYPD tech specialist William Patel cross-references the victims' phone numbers and traces a common link to Allie Pritz, a 22-year-old former NYU student who coordinates the service. Bennett's daughter Juliana tearfully confirms she suspected Suzanne was involved, citing her friend's unexplained spending money and weekend unavailability. Bennett and Terri locate Allie at her apartment near Washington Square Park. Devastated to learn about the murders, Allie provides her phone records and a client list, explaining that the girls operate independently using burner phones.

Working through the list, Bennett eliminates the Banning brothers after hospital security footage confirms Kyle was with Jaden, who had overdosed on OxyContin, during the window in which Estella was killed. Bennett then interviews Thomas Sloan, a veterinarian and client of the service with prior domestic violence incidents. When pressed, the panicked vet plunges a syringe of ketamine, a powerful sedative, into Bennett's neck. Terri radios for help, and Sloan is arrested. After recovering, Bennett interviews Sloan at Rikers Island, where Sloan reveals he learned about the service from Perry Martin, who said it helped him focus before games.

Bennett's suspicion shifts toward Martin. He uncovers a buried assault from Martin's college days at Syracuse and connects Martin to thefts at the Wolfson Academy used to fund his use of the service. Walter identifies a burner phone that called The Girlfriend Experience exclusively during football season, purchased near Martin's home.

Bennett's team plans an undercover sting. NYPD technicians clone the service's phone so Allie can answer calls from her apartment. She is equipped with a hidden transmitter and a GPS panic button. On Thursday, a caller matching Martin's profile insists on meeting a girl that night, and Allie arranges to meet him at The Hockey Stick, a sports bar in the Bronx. Bennett, Terri, and a tactical team take positions inside and outside.

Martin arrives and charms Allie, but a brawl triggered by rowdy fans creates chaos, and Martin slips out the back with Allie. She activates her panic button, and the GPS signal leads Bennett and Terri through the subway to the Malloy Arms, a dilapidated hotel. They kick in the ninth-floor door to find Allie by the window and Martin emerging from the bathroom. A violent fight erupts as Martin hurls the detectives around the room before bolting toward the roof.

On the rooftop, 12 stories above the street, Martin backs onto the ledge. Bennett, fighting his acrophobia, talks calmly. Martin confesses to four murders: Cheryl Savage, a missing Columbia University student whose neck he twisted; Emma Schrade, strangled during rough sex; Suzanne Morton, killed after she tried to blackmail him; and Estella Abreu, stabbed with a kitchen utensil when she refused sex. He describes an uncontrollable compulsion and admits he stole from the school to fund his habit.

Just as Martin appears ready to surrender, Allie, who followed them to the roof, snatches a gun carried carelessly in the small of the young detective's back and fires two shots. One severs Martin's carotid artery, and he falls to the sidewalk below.

In the aftermath, Bennett rides along as a juvenile crimes team confronts the bullies and confiscates a revolver. He coaches Holy Name's girls' basketball team to a victory, with his daughter Fiona scoring most of the points. Mary Catherine tells Bennett she will continue her fertility drug regimen, giving herself more time to decide. Bennett takes the whole family to celebrate at a restaurant, where his daughter Shawna corrects his comparison of Fiona to LeBron James: "You mean Lisa Leslie." Surrounded by his family, Bennett reflects that he has a pretty good life.