Save Me from Dangerous Men

I really liked the protagonist of this book by S.A. Lelchuk. Nikki Griffin loves books and owns a used book store in Oakland. She lets her competent manager, Jess, run it most of the time, however, because she is also passionate about saving women who are being abused by men. She doesn't just try to help the women stand up for themselves, she makes it her personal mission to teach these men what is feels like to be hurt and helpless so they won't do it again. She takes on what appears to be a regular PI job following an employee of a high tech company that makes baby monitors. The company CEO is afraid the employee is selling company secrets. Well, sort of. Nikki gets suspicious of the job when she sees her target, Karen, being followed and confronted by some threatening men. It turns out to be anything but an ordinary job when Karen is murdered right before she was going to meet Nikki and reveal all she knew about what the company is actually doing. Now it's Nikki who is in the cross-hairs. In the meantime, she has met a nice guy, Ethan, and she would really like to have a normal relationship, but an attempted mugging while they are on a date reveals Nikki's darker side and he's not sure he wants any part of her. We gradually learn about Nikki's traumatic history that drove her to become the avenger that she is. I would totally read any sequel to this debut novel. Several reviewers have likened Nikki to a cross between Jack Reacher and Lisbeth Salander. If you like and recognize those protagonists, you will certainly root for Nikki. There is a comprehensive summary of the plot in The Washington Post. Kirkus offers a positive review as does Publishers Weekly as does USA Today.