Ace Big Apple mystery writer Dick R.G. Belsky and co-author Bonnie Traymore have a terrifically slick and winning psychological thriller coming out May 1. Here’s Honest Jim’s review:

Co-authors R.G. Belsky and Bonnie Traymore glide through a masterfully tricky, seamless and entertaining pas de deux in Swipe: A Twisty Psychological Thriller.

Set in New York City and its surrounding suburbs, their book centers on the treacherous world of on-line dating, a universe of lies, damaged psyches, cheaters, self-delusion, sexual predators and even a murderer — or maybe, two. Everybody says they want to find true love; almost nobody finds it.

The Fred and Ginger of this novel are Jake Parker, once a high-flying reporter on a top Big Apple newspaper now writing fluff pieces for an online outlet called The American Scene, and Sonya Romano, a self-declared vigilante with the psychological scars of a philandering father who drove her fragile mother to suicide and a dark desire to punish the cheaters, liars and obnoxious assholes she seems to attract like a disaster-date magnet.

At first, Jake is disgusted by his assignment to do a cotton-candy feature about on-line dating with a first-person point of view. Meaning, he has to dive into this world himself. But once a star reporter, always a star reporter. Which means Jake finds a real story, a really big story, with teeth, in all that gooey mess of bad actors and desperate people.

It takes him a buck-and-wing, a grand jeté and a monkey flip or two, but Jake’s journalism dance eventually leads him to Sonya, who is high-stepping to hide a dark fear. Did she confront and accidentally push a cheating husband she met on a dating app over the lip of the Palisades and a 500-foot death drop into the Hudson River?

The cops believe this was an accidental death, but Jake’s nose for news — real, grab-you-by-the-front-page news, not fluff — tells him different. It takes a few thrilling jumps and turns to get there, but he eventually uncovers the truth. And meets a beguiling murderer who wants to lure him with her charms — maybe to bed, maybe to his demise.

Another body drops — this time, it’s the wandering, sad-sack husband of Sonya’s sister, Bella. He’s murdered in an apparent robbery gone bad at a popular hiking trail after disappearing for more than a day.

The quick-footed double dip? Sonya spotted the husband on the same dating app she uses but stays quiet. And her sister Bella is having her own affair with her husband’s co-worker. Desperate people, looking for love and finding death.

All of this is delivered in a fast-paced, sure-footed style that keeps you turning the pages to read what happens next. And the dark fear Sonya has about pushing a cheater over the cliff?

You’ll have to buy the book and keep flipping pages to get the answer to that question. Don’t worry, though. Belsky and Traymore’s captivating dance make it worth every penny and every page.