Canary

by Duane Swierczynski

First published 2015

Sarie Holland gets arrested helping her boyfriend with what seemed like a simple favor. The honors student faces a brutal choice: rat out her boyfriend or watch her future crumble. She picks a third option and becomes CI #1373, a confidential informant for the Philadelphia police. Detective Ben Wildey thinks he's struck gold. Sarie's boyfriend buys from dealers connected to major drug operations. This could be the career-defining case Wildey needs. Sarie proves unnaturally gifted at reading criminals and navigating their world. But Wildey gets greedy and pushes her into situations beyond what any nineteen-year-old should handle. His recklessness lands Sarie in a death trap with corrupt cops and killers hunting her from all sides. Now she's alone with only the street smarts she's picked up during her weeks undercover. The crooked police and drug gangs are about to learn that their former asset has become their worst nightmare.

Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, action

Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful

Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, fish-out-of-water

Setting: Philadelphia

385 pages · Hardcover · Little, Brown and Company

Content warnings: violence

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