Pinky Swear

At the start of this formulaic standalone from Girard (Up Close), Lexi McNeil is days away from becoming a mother when Mara Vannatta, her surrogate and high school best friend, suddenly disappears. Alarmed that Mara might have been tracked to Denver by the abusive husband she fled from back in Philadelphia, Lexi pleads for help from local police, who are sympathetic but don’t have any promising leads. Desperate to protect the baby girl she’s dreamed of for years, Lexi flies to Philly, only to learn shortly after landing that there’s a warrant out for Mara’s arrest. As an increasingly alarmed Lexi scrambles to piece together the truth, Girard flashes back to her and Mara’s senior year of high school and the traumatic death of their close friend, Cate—an event Lexi starts to reconsider in light of her discoveries about Mara. The more serpentine the plot gets, the less plausible it becomes, as Lexi explores the seedy Philadelphia strip joints where Mara danced and meets the drug dealers she ran with and the crooked cops they paid to look the other way. Though Girard tackles such worthy themes as female friendship and sexual assault, her characters aren’t convincing enough to patch over the plot’s shakiness. It’s a letdown. Agent: Danya Kukafka, Trellis Literary. (Feb.)