Lydia Strong, a best selling crime writer turned private
investigator, and her lover,
Jeffrey Mark, were two of three partners of the new
investigative firm of Mark, Striker and Strong. They lived in an upscale apartment in an
upscale neighborhood and were expecting a baby. They had been hired by Eleanor Ross to
find out who killed her son-in-law, the second son-in-law she has lost to suspicious
murder. Her daughter, Julian Ross, was charged in this murder and held in a psychiatric
hospital for evaluation.
Lydia and Jeffrey worked well together and
taking on this case would have been routine had it not been overshadowed by tension and
fear for Lydia’s safety – following news of the escape of Jed McIntyre from a facility
housing the criminally insane after fifteen years behind bars. Jed had murdered Lydia’s
mother and was considered to be twice as insane and obsessed with Lydia…stalking her by
day and invading her dreams at night.
With the past reaching into the
present and controlling the actions of those weak enough to believe in myth and legend,
this story is a fast paced thriller that kept me riveted as I turned page after page.
The story took me to places below the surface of the city of New York, my
mind alive with the images presented there, of the mole people…homeless and looking to
survive in a city below a city. I felt the crunch of the vermin below my feet, the
perspiration of fear as Jeffrey followed one of these people deeper into the tunnels in
search of Jed.
Following the twists and turns of multiple plots, I was
caught up in the lives of the characters in this well written who-done-it! Who killed
Julian’s two husbands? Who killed Eleanor Ross? Was Julian’s twin really dead? How did
Jed come and go in a city covered by a police dragnet? Who was Annabelle? Who took the
children? The questions were endless but when the last page was turned, I had most of
the answers. The one question left unanswered leaves me waiting for the sequel to what
amounts to a masterfully crafter murder/mystery/thriller.
I recommend
this book as a must read for all lovers of this genre.