A moment's inattention while walking back to her Tennessee apartment was all it took for college student Amber Jamison to find herself trapped in a serial killer's van. Waking up from a drugged stupor in the killer's basement and strapped down to a worktable, she is saved by a stealthy ski-masked woman with a passion to hunt down serial killers. Amber's sketchy childhood has her skittish about involving law enforcement of any kind, so she packs up and heads west. In a shabby motel in Las Vegas, Amber learns that she is the target of a more cunning and dangerous serial killer. With the help of true crime-loving motel manager Dot, motel room neighbor/sex worker Marcella, and the ski-masked woman, Amber must match wits with the killer through the streets and casinos of the Vegas Strip if she is to survive. VERDICT Veteran novelist Gagnon (The Tunnels) offers up a fun, quirky thriller with a flawed yet likable main character surrounded by a wacky supporting cast. For readers who enjoy a bit of dark humor, like in Jeff Lindsay's "Dexter" series.--Joy Gunn

Lifelong grifter Amber's attempts to construct a law-abiding life as a graduate student come to a screeching halt when she becomes the Pikachu Killer's latest captive (he dresses his victims' bodies as Pokémon). Luckily, she's rescued by a fierce woman wielding an overcharged cattle prod who breaks in and kills Amber's captor. Grace, Amber's rescuer, is a surly hero who refuses to contact the police and takes the first opportunity to dump Amber in a random backwater. Sadly, DNA in the dead killer's basement burns the fake identity that's hiding Amber's criminal past, so she abandons the campus and moves to Vegas, where she returns to grifting. In Vegas, another predator has been leaving sex workers' bodies in hotel bathtubs, and the amateur-sleuthing group run by Amber's new friend Dot is determined to find the culprit. Cue grouchy Grace, who turns up, announces that the Bathtub Killer is her twin brother, and fingers Amber as his next target. This quirky thriller, with nicely developed LGBTQ themes of self-love and a sprightly conversational tone, makes tackling gruesome killers feel a little like a romp.

Gagnon (Unearthly Things) sets a high bar for herself--making a crime novel that centers on multiple serial killers funny--but doesn't quite clear it. Amber Jamison is bound and gagged in the back of a van in Johnson City, Tenn., the latest captive of the Pikachu Killer. Under imminent threat of being strangled, shaved, and painted to resemble a Pokémon character, Jamison is rescued by a ski-masked woman who wields a cattle prod and kills Jamison's captor. Her narrow escape from danger proves short-lived, though, as Jamison makes her way to Las Vegas and finds herself involved in the search for another serial killer. Her rescuer resurfaces under unsettling circumstances, and Gagnon reveals that Jamison is a veteran con who may have faked her initial capture. Jamison's narration never quite convinces, though she does land a few jokes and twists along the way. Readers seeking a serial killer thriller with a light touch would be better served by Benjamin Stevenson's Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone. Agent: Stephanie Kip Rostan, Levine Greenberg Rostan. (May)

Janet Evanovich meets Thomas Harris in Gagnon's uneven fifth thriller. Street-smart Amber Jamison is mortified when she finds herself "bound up like a sushi roll" in a van, potentially the next victim of a serial killer terrorizing Johnson City, Tennessee. Before the Pokémon-obsessed psycho can finish her off, she's rescued by a ski mask--wearing woman armed with a cattle prod who disappears before Amber can learn why this mysterious stranger is hunting serial murderers. Escaping the Pikachu Killer is just the start of our protagonist's misadventures. After an FBI agent calls to set up an interview, Amber, fearful that law enforcement may have uncovered her grifter past, flees her carefully built life as a college student and heads to Las Vegas, where she settles in at the seedy Getaway Motel. Her reprieve, though, is brief; Grace, Amber's ski mask--wearing savior, arrives on her doorstep, warning that the killer she's pursuing is stalking Amber, and is later attacked. Amber must rely on her best grifter skills and the support of noir-loving motel manager Dot, romantic interest and sex worker with a heart of gold Marcella, and the injured Grace to catch a monster. Mixing snarky humor that often falls flat and increasingly far-fetched situations with gruesome serial killings makes for a queasy read. Also suffering from queasiness is a lead character who constantly vomits to reveal her emotional turmoil, whether from fear, panic attack, drugs and booze, or revealing her innermost secrets. That's just lazy writing. The switch from Amber's sarcastic first-person narration to the solemn third person to reveal the serial killer's backstory feels clunky and manipulative. Underneath this mess lie the bones of a good thriller about resourceful, empowered women who team up to fight back. Evanovich fans may enjoy, but devotees of harder-edged thrillers will be disappointed. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.