Publisher's Weekly
This comfortably domestic suspense thriller opens as Christine Helstrum, mad escapee from a New York asylum, drives a stolen car through freezing weather to Colorado, bent on vengeance against Alex Whitaker and his family, whom she blames for her misery. Years before, she put her son up for adoption, then, jealous, she killed the boy and his adoptive mother, Alex's first wife. Now Alex has remarried. His new wife Sarah, owner of a beauty salon, also has a son. Cheerfully oblivious, Alex, Sarah and six-year-old Brian get ready for Christmas. After learning that Christine is at large, they hear noises in the basement, find beheaded mice, broken latches and food missing from the fridge. Such teasing details lose their terror for readers who are kept abreast of Christine's whereabouts and plans. After a menacingly bizarre woman shows up in Sarah's shop demanding a stylish hairdo, fancy footwork on the part of Sarah and Brian wrap up the plot. Allegretto won the Shamus award for Death on the Rock. First serial to Good Housekeeping.
Library Journal
Four-and-a-half years earlier, Christine Helstrum murdered Alex Whitaker's family. Now she has escaped from a mental hospital, and Alex fears she will attack his new wife and son. The police assure them that Christine could not possibly find Alex, but, unknown to everyone, Christine is already hiding in the Whitakers' rambling Victorian basement, emerging to play innocuous pranks. The pranks, and the novel, are focused on Sarah Whitaker. She knows Christine is toying with her and her family, but can offer no reasonable explanation as to how Christine is penetrating their defenses. Christine's tricks become more malicious, and Sarah's tension and frustration grow until the final confrontation, a battle over Sarah's son. The author has made it easy to identify with Sarah's mixture of fear, anger, and self-doubt; and the inexorable escalation of Christine's mischief into murderous violence makes for a suspenseful thriller.-- A.M.B. Amantia, Population Crisis Committee Lib., Washington, D.C.
School Library Journal
A gripping suspense story that's a real page-turner. The insane killer of Alex's first wife and child has escaped and is now stalking Alex, his new wife Sarah, and their son Brian. Their partially renovated old home becomes the scene of many unexplained events as the story races through several encounters with the psychopathic Christine. Some scenes, such as one on a roof, may seem vaguely familiar to readers, and extraneous descriptions seem calculated to fill pages. However, the characters are well developed, and Brian is a particularly likable child. This is a thriller, but it's not comparable to books by Mary Higgins Clark. --Paula Wilde, R. E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Genre: Mystery
This comfortably domestic suspense thriller opens as Christine Helstrum, mad escapee from a New York asylum, drives a stolen car through freezing weather to Colorado, bent on vengeance against Alex Whitaker and his family, whom she blames for her misery. Years before, she put her son up for adoption, then, jealous, she killed the boy and his adoptive mother, Alex's first wife. Now Alex has remarried. His new wife Sarah, owner of a beauty salon, also has a son. Cheerfully oblivious, Alex, Sarah and six-year-old Brian get ready for Christmas. After learning that Christine is at large, they hear noises in the basement, find beheaded mice, broken latches and food missing from the fridge. Such teasing details lose their terror for readers who are kept abreast of Christine's whereabouts and plans. After a menacingly bizarre woman shows up in Sarah's shop demanding a stylish hairdo, fancy footwork on the part of Sarah and Brian wrap up the plot. Allegretto won the Shamus award for Death on the Rock. First serial to Good Housekeeping.
Library Journal
Four-and-a-half years earlier, Christine Helstrum murdered Alex Whitaker's family. Now she has escaped from a mental hospital, and Alex fears she will attack his new wife and son. The police assure them that Christine could not possibly find Alex, but, unknown to everyone, Christine is already hiding in the Whitakers' rambling Victorian basement, emerging to play innocuous pranks. The pranks, and the novel, are focused on Sarah Whitaker. She knows Christine is toying with her and her family, but can offer no reasonable explanation as to how Christine is penetrating their defenses. Christine's tricks become more malicious, and Sarah's tension and frustration grow until the final confrontation, a battle over Sarah's son. The author has made it easy to identify with Sarah's mixture of fear, anger, and self-doubt; and the inexorable escalation of Christine's mischief into murderous violence makes for a suspenseful thriller.-- A.M.B. Amantia, Population Crisis Committee Lib., Washington, D.C.
School Library Journal
A gripping suspense story that's a real page-turner. The insane killer of Alex's first wife and child has escaped and is now stalking Alex, his new wife Sarah, and their son Brian. Their partially renovated old home becomes the scene of many unexplained events as the story races through several encounters with the psychopathic Christine. Some scenes, such as one on a roof, may seem vaguely familiar to readers, and extraneous descriptions seem calculated to fill pages. However, the characters are well developed, and Brian is a particularly likable child. This is a thriller, but it's not comparable to books by Mary Higgins Clark. --Paula Wilde, R. E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Genre: Mystery
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