North of Boston
By Elisabeth Elo 
(Pamela Dorman Books)

Scent pervades Elisabeth Elo’s debut outing: expensive perfumes, the tang of fishing boats and the coppery smell of blood.

The thriller stars Pirio Kasparov. She’s a descendant of Russian parents who bought their Beacon Hill bona fides, but who feels more at home among Boston’s dockworkers and fishermen.

Pirio is heir to a perfume house founded by her parents. Her mother, who died when Pirio was only 10, took the secret of her signature scent to the grave.

Sent away to a boarding school for problem kids at the urging of her father’s new wife, Pirio learns to survive on her own. When she meets teenage Thomasina, a castaway from the wreck of her wealthy parents’ divorce, they form an adolescent bond that turns into a lifelong friendship.

Years later, we meet Pirio after she has nearly drowned in a shipwreck that killed her friend, Ned, on the maiden voyage of his lobster boat, the Molly Jones. Pirio, also godmother to Ned’s son Noah, is angry that no one is held accountable for the accident. Her mission for justice sends her from beer-soaked bars to the salty air of the docks, and eventually to an icy landmark that holds the warmest memories from her childhood.

Crucial to the action is Pirio’s weird ability to survive, for longer than most humans, in very cold water. It saved her after the shipwreck and makes her an object of fascination to the U.S. military.

Like scent, survival is a theme, too. Despite her near-superhuman ability to warm herself, it’s when she opens herself to others that she gets what she needs ― information, motivation ― to beat the bad guys.

Elo does a great job of cranking up the tension ― Don’t get on the boat, Pirio! ― which, when coupled with her knack for conjuring up her heroine’s often-icy surroundings, will have you cranking up the thermostat to quell the shivers.

Pirio has a lot of sharp, interesting edges, and she’s an easy narrator to like. She’s no pushover, but readily steps up as protector to the wronged and the innocent.

Elo, who teaches writing in the Boston area, plans more adventures with Pirio as the main character. If that does happen, I hope her father, Milosa, survives long enough to make his presence felt. His cigar-scented, hard-as-nails personality, while not the best father figure for a motherless child, serves as a remorseless reality check for the adult Pirio.

And Elo leaves a cloud of mystery around Pirio’s parents’ early partnership that could be a great subplot for a second outing. (MCT)