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What a charming little work this one is. It grabbed me from start to finish – where it still leaves one on a tenterhook or two. Chapter 1 begins the tale with the killer’s journal. There, the description of the murderer’s treatment of the latest victim and this voyeur’s mode of operation is disclosed – without a clue as to the identity of the sadistic killer. Sandy Crosbie is a high school teacher in Torrance, Florida. She has moved there at the insistence of her womanising doctor husband Ian, who, unbeknownst to her, had a prospective mistress in his sights. He had met Kerri on an Internet site and couldn’t wait to move more closely to her. Once living in Torrance, he has moved out of the matrimonial home to be near his girlfriend and Sandy and their daughter and son are left on their own. The schoolteacher does her best not to forgive her husband his philandering – she has done so many times before – and to settle down to a single life which would give her the freedom to date. Some people are unable to cast off their own inhibitions, especially when they have a teenage daughter to whom they wish to serve as a model, so Sandy dithers. Megan, Sandy’s daughter, has problems of her own. She has a crush on one of the school’s jocks but she is convinced she can win him over – especially when they are cast together in the school’s production of Kiss Me Kate. Of course, in a small town there is bound to be at least one case of wife abuse so when Fiona Hamilton disappears, it is a reasonable assumption that she has simply run away rather than fallen victim to the serial killer – but given she has become so cowed through the years of being married to Cal Hamilton, perhaps it’s not quite such a wild assumption that she, too, has been taken for the predator’s amusement. I had not read any of Fielding’s books for some years because I felt queasy at some of her scenes of mayhem. I did, however, gird up my metaphorical loins when this novel appeared and I am glad I did. Yes, she is not averse to depicting a whole heap of gruesome gore but my goodness, she can write. The characterisation is quite good. I was suitably repelled by the gloating of the murderer, felt, at one remove, the teenage angst of Sandy’s daughter, not to mention the collywobbles of fear experienced by Sandy herself, as she contemplates dating and I could quite easily see the validity of the entire Torrance population. Certainly, there are some nasties amongst them but all are quite real – insofar as their artificially enhanced breasts and lips permit them. The prose is well done. Fielding has the nasty knack of building tension and exaggerating horror to the nth degree. As for plotting – that is masterful. She had me completely foxed when it came to the identity of the murderer. I am very glad I overcame my prejudices about Fielding’s work. I would not have missed out on this thriller for anything.
Reviewed by Denise Pickles, January 2008
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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