Chill Waters
By Joan Hall Hovey

     Joan Hall Hovey's Nowhere to Hide was billed as scarier than Silence of the Lambs. It's easy to see why: In a market glutted with thrillers about serial killers (is the sadistic death of one person not frightening enough for us?), she makes serial killers creepy again. The man of many faces, Charlie Morley, fits all the serial killer profile hallmarks: resentment of his mother, cruelty to animals, first killing as a child, and sexual sadism. He's also a sociopath who had unnatural feelings for his half-sister, who he killed. It might be grim speculation to say that Tommy Prichard, the bad boy of Jenny's Cove, with an alcoholic father who has no regard for women, might follow the same pattern. The local authorities and the entire town think so, particularly after the attack and subsequent murder on Tommy's girlfriend, Heather Myers, who bears a striking resemblance to Charlie Morley's stepsister Marie.

     Unfortunately, Rachael Warren, moving back to Jenny's Cove to lick her wounds in her artist grandmother's old house after the breakup of her marriage, also resembles Marie. And Tommy gets the blame for some freakish stalker happenings at her cabin. But Heather, along with psychic artist Iris Brandt and Iris' handsome widowed nephew Peter, Tommy's teacher, believe the boy is innocent. Is Martin Dunn, Rachael's new tenant on her grandmother's property, just a harmless writer? And what happened to the mysterious doctor who attended Heather Myers just before she was murdered in the hospital? What sinister role does Tommy's abusive drunken father Nate play in the gruesome goings-on? Are Iris's psychic visions accurate? Will Tommy be exonerated? Why do the good residents of Jenny's Cove seem like such psycho magnets? Will Rachel and Peter find true romance? And will you be able to sleep with the lights off after reading CHILL WATERS, a taut thriller that combines well-drawn vivid characters with an engaging plot?

     Rachael is a magnetically likeable heroine, and Peter Gardner fills his muscular frame well as her sleuthing counterpart concerned about his student. Rachael's transformation from walking wounded to feisty survivor will leave you cheering.

Reviews of other titles by this author

Listen to the Shadows
Chill Waters
And Then He Was Gone