Valedictorian of his high school class, Titus "Crisp" Crespo has a bright future. He's heading to Princeton in the fall and looks forward to college life. A series of bad decisions on one fateful day lead Crisp down a path he never expected to follow, where he will face a father he's never known and decisions he wanted to avoid ever facing. When Crisp's mother reports him missing, Detective Lex Cole has to unravel the events of Crisp's day to locate the youth, and his companion, Glynnie, after their disappearance.

This is a story that hits many of the big social concerns: racism. inequality, targeting of minorities by police, injustice, addiction, abuse, murder, etc. One bad decision leads into more like the domino effect for Crisp. One bad day might completely derail his life.

Last Night is the second book in The Searchers series. In the first book, Detective Lex Cole was mostly in a support position for FBI Agent Elsa Myers. This time, Lex is in the forefront with his partner, Saki Finley. Lex has a lot going on in his personal life, as he worries over his boyfriend possibly seeing someone else. He pushes those feelings to the side and hits this case hard, searching for two teenagers who are making some very poor, and possibly life-threatening, decisions. Elsa shows up a couple times in passing during the story, but she really doesn't figure into the plot in this second book. In fact, this second book really could be read as a standalone story. It isn't necessary to have read A Map of the Dark first to enjoy this story. While I was happy to see Lex become a more developed character and to see what a great detective he is, this story didn't grab my attention quite as quickly as the first book in the series. This story develops a little more slowly, and focuses more on social justice than detective work. It caught me a bit by surprise. I was expecting more of the same vibe from the first book. The difference in pace and style surprised me a bit....but once I got into the plot and realized this was going to be totally different than A Map of the Dark, I got sucked into the story.

I'm very interested to see where this series goes from here. I will definitely read more! Very curious to see who the main character will be in the next book. Will the series jump around, switching up each time? Or will it settle into focusing on Lex....Elsa....someone else? Each story so far has been well-written with complex and flawed characters. It makes for an interesting read....a different experience than other crime novels with more formula main characters.

Karen Ellis is a pen name for Author Katia Lief. The Searchers is my first experience with her writing. I've added her Karin Schaffer series to my TBR list.

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Mulholland Books via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** ( )

4.5 stars.

Last Night by Karen Ellis is a fast-paced and engrossing mystery. Although this newest addition is the second installment in The Searchers series, it can be read as a standalone.

Titus "Crisp" Crespo is the valedictorian of his graduating class and he has been accepted into Princeton. However, his bright future is suddenly in jeopardy after a racist cop targets the mixed race young man. After a night in jail, Crisp makes an ill-advised decision to go with casual acquaintance Glynnie Dryfus to buy some more pot from her dealer, JJ. Glynnie then drags both Crisp and JJ along with her on an ill-fated mission in Red Hook. Glynnie's parents and Crisp's mom report their children as missing and Detective Lex Cole and Detective Saki Finley work together to locate the errant teens.

Lex is fighting his demons following a horrible fight with his boyfriend, Adam. Despite these distractions, he works diligently to find Crisp. Utilizing all of the technological resources available to them, they manage to retrace many of the Glynnie's, JJ's and Crisp's stops from the night before. Unfortunately, they are a few steps behind Crisp and Lex and Saki are also stymied as they try to find out more details about JJ.

Crisp is highly intelligent but when it appears his plans for the future are ruined, he acts without thinking about the consequences of his choices. He does have a few qualms about joining Glynnie, but he ignores his doubts. The situation goes horribly awry very quickly but Crisp manages to keep his wits about him as he tries to figure out how to escape from his increasingly dire situation.

Last Night is an riveting mystery that features a topical storyline that is quite insightful. The characters are well-rounded with realistic strengths and shortcomings. Lex's situation with Adam revives painful memories and fears and he is tempted to return to unhealthy methods to help him cope. Crisp and Glynnie make some very poor choices that force them to grow up and accept responsibility for their actions. JJ's story arc is utterly heartbreaking and highlights how easy it is for at risk youths to fall through the cracks. Karen Ellis brings this suspenseful and thought-provoking novel to an uplifting conclusion. I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend The Searchers series to fans of the genre.
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Holy cow this book made me so frustrated. Princeton bound Titus Crespo “Crisp” as he is nicknamed, is smart, a good boy and responsible. One cop changes Crisp’s whole life. The situations he gets into in Last Night seems so far fetched. It goes to show that smarts doesn’t always give you the ability to know when to speak up and get the crap out of somewhere you don’t feel comfortable.

Glynnie Dryfus, 18 years old is portrayed as a stereotypical rich girl who thinks she rules the world and her brain doesn’t think through any situation she gets herself in. She drags Crisp into a dangerous situation all because “she wants a gun” and has the ability to get on no matter where she has to go to get it. It’s that simple- she wants something she’s going to get it no matter the outcome. Sadly, Crisp is the one that pays for it.
The one line in the book that sums this whole story up is from Detective Lex, when Detective Elsa tells him to think like a teenager, “Don’t think at all. Act and react. Think later.” This is that story.
Even with that said the characters are not as shallowly written as they are in person. Author Karen Ellis rolls out a good story that is filled with danger, examples of police profiling and teen angst.
I give this book 3 stars not because of the writing but because of the stereotyping and dimwit moves of a very spoiled girl. ( )

OH NO! The beginning has me super angry. This is the type of book I have been avoiding. Smacks too much of realism and I don’t need anymore than I happen to catch flipping channels on the TV or clicking on the internet.

Ugly business and I see it ruining Crisp’s life. Will it make him become a monster? We’ll see.

A portrait of a white privileged teen girl, a promising, intelligent mixed race boy and a black homeless boy and what results from their coming together.

Kind of a coming of age story …I thought it would be about race when I first began, but it turned into teens…learning about life.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Last Night by Karen Ellis.

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com ( )

This was not the book for me. It was so frustrating that I just didn’t get into it. I know scenarios like this occur but I didn’t really want to read about it. This reminds me a lot of Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing. It is a lesson for all but not what I want to read. ( )