Ryan O’Rourke

Published Aug 3, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT

Ryan O’Rourke is a Senior News Writer at Collider with a specific interest in all things adult animation, video game adaptations, and the work of Mike Flanagan. He is also an experienced baseball writer with over six years of articles between multiple outlets, most notably FanSided’s CubbiesCrib. Whether it’s taking in a baseball game, a new season of Futurama or Castlevania: Nocturne, or playing the latest From Software title, he is always finding ways to show his fandom. When it comes to gaming and anything that takes inspiration from it, he is deeply opinionated on what’s going on. Outside of entertainment, he’s a graduate of Eureka College with a Bachelor’s in Communication where he honed his craft as a writer. Between The IV Leader at Illinois Valley Community College and The Pegasus at Eureka, he spent the majority of his college career publishing articles on everything from politics to campus happenings and, of course, entertainment for the student body. Those principles he learned covering the 2020 election, Palestine, and so much more are brought here to Collider, where he has gleefully written on everything from the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes to Nathan Lane baby-birding sewer boys.

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Lovers of all things true crime may recognize Jaime Parker Stickle best for her popular podcast The Girl With the Same Name, following her as she digs into the violent cold case of the similarly named Jamie Stickle, both to learn why she never saw justice and to redefine her legacy as more than a victim. However, the host is so much more than one compelling show. She’s a multi-hyphenate storyteller, working as an actor, professor, and novelist to weave compelling yarns both fictional and factual. Last year saw the debut of her first book, Vicious Cycle, marking the beginning of a series of detective crime thrillers centered on former reporter and new mother Corey Tracey-Lieberman. So successful was the new take on the genre that she’s already back with her next intrigue-filled installment.

Take Hart catches Corey at a tumultuous time in life, torn between “her LAPD consulting gig, fledgling indie news blog, and postpartum panic disorder.” Then, just when she thinks she can’t take anymore, she learns of another mother from the Highland Park neighborhood, Sonja Hart, who has vanished without a trace with little reaction from the public or law enforcement. Filled with a righteous maternal fury, her investigative instincts kick back in, and she resolves to get answers herself. That’s easier said than done, though, as she quits taking her anxiety medication to see everything clearly and employs whatever connections and ins she has at her disposal. All the while, Corey grapples with the failings of her marriage and the feelings she has for her investigative partner and brings her baby along for the ride while examining curious house fires, new neighbors, and more. When the killer turns their sights toward her, however, the personal stakes become much higher.

With the book’s release just around the corner, Collider is excited to exclusively share the first excerpt from Take Hart that sees Corey bending the rules a bit to chase a lead. Many of the most compelling detectives in fiction, from Sherlock Holmes to Miss Marple and television favorites like Adrian Monk, aren’t afraid to step onto the murkier side of the law or go outside of norms to get results, and Stickle’s sleuth is no exception, using her boss’ absence at Cyclone Spin Studio to her advantage. She first scours through Sonja Hart’s profile on Facebook to find a friend with a concrete connection she can use. One of them, Anne Silva, happens to have been a customer at the Spin Studio, allowing her to dive into client data for information. That does not sit well with her boss when she walks in and wants to know what Corey is up to, though.

Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.

You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.

You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world’s beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.

You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what’s right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.

You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.

You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.

The passage is a glimpse into nearly all aspects of Corey’s life and how her sleuthing inevitably interferes with them. In particular, it’s a showcase of her willingness to accept risk and jeopardize her current reality for answers. What makes Take Hart and the wider Corey in Los Angeles series stand out is how it’s not as interested in larger-than-life detective mythmaking as much as portraying a mother whose penchant for justice often intertwines with her need to care for her child and herself. Like The Girl With the Same Name, it’s also a reminder of the startling lack of attention for women caught up in violent crimes and disappearances as anything more than victims. Of course, Stickle’s story also doesn’t lack a bit of light humor to balance the character-focused drama along the way.

Below, you can find the entire excerpt, detailing her efforts to find answers from the moment she strolls into work with her baby, Jacob, to when her boss catches her violating countless privacy laws.

I park Jacob in his stroller at the front desk next to me but don’t see Monique. I take the opportunity and log in to the computer. I log in to my fake Facebook account and search for Sonja Hart. I’m looking for a connection to the missing woman that isn’t Chris. I find Sonja’s profile and click through her small list of friends—a task that I had bailed on earlier this morning… only 126 friends, and none of them is Chris.

I look at Jacob in his stroller and ask, “Jacob, how is your biscuit?” He slaps the tray of his stroller with glee. “Is it okay we’re here at Mommy’s work?” I ask. One day he’ll be able to answer, and I’m not totally ready for what that answer will be. At the moment he’s cherishing his biscuit.

I look back to the computer screen and start clicking on each person.

I get lucky on number eleven. Los Angeles is a big city, but a very small world, and Highland Park is basically a giant high school. There it is, a woman that has checked into classes at the Cyclone Spin Studio is, minimally, Facebook friends with Sonja Hart—Anne Silva. She hasn’t left any comment on the missing-person post.

I log out of Facebook and into the Cyclone client portal to look up the woman that knows Sonja Hart. I scroll to Silva, Anne.

“Lieberman, you’re early,” Monique, short for Monica, says. She moves past Jacob’s stroller and slips behind the desk where I’m reviewing client information on the computer.

“What are you doing, looking up client files?”

Monique will never not be on my case about my work. My life, my style, my baby. She’s twenty-eight, dates hot women, and pulls off a grunge, rocker vibe better than I’m pulling off the mom vibe. She is also my boss, and I like her.

“Do you know Anne Silva?” I scroll through the previous week’s schedule to see when Anne comes to the studio. She is clearly not a regular because I go back three weeks and can’t find her signed in to a single class, but we make everyone fill out paperwork, thank god. I can’t say I remember her name from ever being her instructor, and I remember everyone’s name and face, always. Which tells me she’s not a morning workout girlie either. She probably came once—to take advantage of our first-class-is-free offer.

“Just checking when was the last time a client came to class.” “Stop.”

“She may know something about a missing woman. I need to find where she lives.”

“Lieberman! You can’t look people up in the system for your reporter work. It violates a million privacy laws. I’m going to lock you out of the system.” She presses the button, and the monitor goes black. “I should fire you.”

“I’m done, sorry.” I have enough information to find her.

Take Hart hits store shelves on August 4, but pre-orders are open now on major retailers like Amazon and Target. In addition to the excerpt, check out the official cover above.