It’s only Hildy Schneider’s second official night on her new grant-funded side job riding alongside the local police officers with her canine therapy dog, Roscoe when trouble strikes. Hildy is a social worker and she hopes to turn this new job into a full-time job but in the meantime, she’s learning to balance her duties between her law enforcement job and her work at the local hospital. However, her second night on the job she encounters a patient well-known to her, Danny Hildebrand, who appears to be having another schizophrenic episode. Unfortunately, some of Danny’s hallucinations seem to match a murder scene discovered later that evening. Things are heating up in Sorenson and even a ghost is on the loose. Can Hildy and Detective Bob Richmond uncover what is really going on?
NIGHT SHIFT is the second book in the Helping Hands series and can easily be read on its own merits. Annelise Ryan packs one heck of a story line into NIGHT SHIFT as we are getting to know our characters much better. Some readers may want to read the first book in order to better familiarize themselves with Hildy’s own therapeutic needs, such as her quirk of stealing small food items. However, Annelise Ryan provides enough contextual details to help readers understand Hildy’s past and her awareness of her own stress triggers.
I absolutely love the attention that Annelise Ryan is giving to the social work profession and mental health overall! Annelise Ryan provides a bit of myth busting about schizophrenia as Hildy points out the differences she sees in Danny’s current breakdown as opposed to the ones he typically has when his medications are off, as well as information on how and why individuals with schizophrenia will often stop taking medication. The information is smoothly incorporated into the story line for maximum enjoyment and is extremely relevant to the plot itself. Even better, we watch Hildy wrestling with the sticky ethical issues that social workers can encounter, particularly when she has such different roles in her two jobs. It’s a personal pet peeve of mine when professionals take unorthodox, unexplained, or unethical approaches to situations in books and I thoroughly appreciate that Annelise Ryan is maintaining the integrity of both Hildy and the profession of social work in NIGHT SHIFT.
And wow, NIGHT SHIFT’s plot is fascinating and very current considering so many of the societal factors occurring in the here and now! NIGHT SHIFT may be perceived as controversial to some readers due to its unique approach to law enforcement, but Annelise Ryan also maintains the integrity of the police officers Hildy works with as we see the cooperation and teamwork building between the two job roles. And let’s not forget Roscoe, as a therapy dog makes everything so much better! Roscoe plays a key role in helping de-escalate folks and is a marvelous inclusion in the story.
NIGHT SHIFT is a phenomenal second entry in the Helping Hands series, and I can’t rave enough about how much I love it! The complexity of the plot and the strength of the character development are superb and it’s obvious that Annelise Ryan has researched the various professions quite well. I love the little side stories, such as the one about PJ, as they add a sense a realism and depth to the characters. I can’t wait to see what is in store for Hildy, Roscoe, and Bob next in the Helping Hands series!
When social worker Hildy Schneider commits to an after-hours side job, she finds herself drawn into the darker side of small-town Sorenson, Wisconsin—and the twisted mind of an unnamed killer . . .
Strange things have been happening since Hildy started moonlighting with local police, but a desperate late-night call involving a former patient from Sorenson General Hospital tops the list. Although Danny Hildebrand has been tormented by hallucinations for years, he swears he’s being haunted for real by the victim of a grisly murder . . .
The rambling ghost story seems like another delusion. But after a body turns up in a neglected farmhouse crawling with secrets, Hildy and the magnetic Detective Bob Richmond rush to explain Danny’s knowledge of the incident. As the crime-solving partners unwittingly grow closer while examining a series of eerie leads, they realize that surviving past sunrise means shedding light on a criminal willing to do whatever it takes to stay in the shadows . . .
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