From Publishers Weekly
A horrifying premise catalyzes this fast-paced, suspenseful thriller: A woman wakes up in a darkened room, bound, disoriented, unable to recall the recent past. She is terrorized and abused by a strange man who taunts her with the names of other victims. But for Abbie Devereaux, a 25-year-old Londoner, the nightmare really begins after she escapes. Recovering in a local hospital, she must confront the fact that no one believes her story. Her doctors think it's all a fantasy, "a cry for help." Det. Insp. Jack Cross can't find a crime scene. And when Abbie's well enough to go home, she discovers that her life-her job designing office interiors; her boyfriend, Terry; the flat they shared-has been destroyed, but she hasn't a clue as to how or why. Has she had a breakdown? Is she still in danger from the kidnapper? The bulk of the novel is about Abbie's inventive efforts to reconstruct her life and discover what really happened to her. French (Killing Me Softly) does a good job of making this unlikely scenario believable. But the larger authorial challenge is making Abbie, an average and unambitious young woman who has clearly made some bad choices in her life, into someone resourceful enough to solve the mystery. The book is psychologically astute about terror-Abbie's panic and bewilderment throughout her ordeal are rendered with precision-but her more basic motivations don't always ring true. Still, it's a suspenseful and harrowing tale, occasionally dipping into the truly gruesome, with powerful narrative drive.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Imagine escaping from an ordeal so heinous you couldn't ever have imagined it and having no one believe you. Add an inability to remember the somewhat unsettled days leading up to being kidnapped, and the disbelief of friends and police makes enough sense that you almost begin to doubt yourself. Anne Flosnik's first-person narration is reflective of Abby's disorientation and frustration as the story begins with her being held in a frightening place with no sense of where she is. She clearly presents the gamut of emotions Abby faces as she tries to recreate her history and ensure a safe future. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
*Starred Review* Widely divergent in terms of plot, French's previous three stand-alone thrillers--Killing Me Softly (1999), Beneath the Skin (2000), and The Red Room (2001)--share a high level of suspense and three compelling heroines. Her latest, French's best work yet, adds another fascinating protagonist while managing to up the ante on suspense, generating a near-unbearable level of dramatic tension. Londoner Abbie Devereaux awakens to find herself injured, hooded, and bound, the captive of a psychotic man whom she cannot see. After a daring escape that almost kills her, she finds herself in the middle of a new nightmare: no one believes her story. Not even her friends. With no memory of the several days preceding her kidnapping, she lacks the ammunition to convince them. As Abbie goes about trying to reconstruct her lost week, she fights the panic of knowing that her unknown captor knows her. Painstakingly piecing together her life, Abbie tries desperately to figure out who kidnapped her--and why. Another brilliant effort by an author who never disappoints. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Entertainment Weekly, 5/1/03
"Genuine chills and page-turning suspense."


Baltimore Sun, 3/23/03
"...[a] nightmarish first person account of being held prisoner in the dark by a stranger....It's a good read."


Romantic Times, 5/2003
"An edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller...keeps the reader on a white-knuckled, hair-raising thrill ride until the last page."


Mystery News, 5/2003
"The tension is incredible and the mystery intriguing....French [is] immensely talented at writing horrifying, suspenseful thrillers."


New York Times Book Review, 5/18/03
"Nicci French seems to know exactly what thrills and terrifies....harrowing."


Book Description
In the tradition of The Silence of the Lambs, Nicci French, bestselling author of Beneath the Skin and The Red Room, delivers what promises to be the psychological blockbuster of the season. Kidnapped, gagged, and held in an airless shed by some unknown assailant, Abbie Devereaux has somehow managed to survive her ordeal and escape. Now no one seems to believe her, including the police who found her bruised and beaten in a run-down neighborhood outside London, and the psychologists who interview her in the hospital. Even worse, Abbie can't remember anything immediately prior to her abduction, so there's no one to corroborate her story. Determined to prove that she's not "making this all up," as one inspector suggests, Abbie sets out to retrace her steps--and comes face-to-face with a very real psycho-killer. Only this time, she refuses to be his victim.


Download Description
Abbie Devereaux was threatened, gagged, kidnapped, starved, and imprisoned in an airless shed before she escaped her unknown captor. The trouble is, no one seems to believe her: Not the police who find her bruised and beaten on the front steps of a run-down housing project on the outskirts of London; not the psychologists who interview her as she recovers in the hospital. Abbie doesn't remember most of the events that happened prior to her abduction, so there's little to corroborate her story. But Abbie is determined to put the fragments of her life in order and to discover what happened to her. Still, everywhere she goes, she is shocked to find evidence of the chaos of her previous life: she had moved out of her boyfriend's apartment; she had lost her job as an office planner; and she had moved in with a roommate who has since completely disappeared. Who can she trust? And where will she go? She's beginning to wonder if Detective Inspector Jack Cross is right and she's been making this all up as her life has been disintegrating.But Abbie knows that she can't get on with her life until she knows what has happened.


About the Author
Nicci French lives in Northern England.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

From New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards comes a thrilling new novel of suspense and steamy seaside sensuality set in North Carolina's Outer Banks, where a serial killer combs the beaches filled with beautiful female tourists for his next victim.

Christy Petrino hadn't planned on a vacation on Ocracoke Island, but when she learns her fianc￯﾿ﾽ and boss, suave Michael DePalma, is a "made man" and the Philadelphia law firm where she works is a front for the mob, she breaks her engagement and quits her job. But no one walks away from the DePalma family business so easily....Only if she delivers a locked briefcase to a motel on Ocracoke Island will she -- and her mother and sisters -- be free.

But after clandestinely making her drop-off late at night, Christy suspects she is being followed on the moonlit beach -- and unwittingly runs into a new kind of terror. Now a witness at the center of a homicide investigation, Christy learns the police are hunting a serial killer they refer to as the "Beachcomber" because beautiful young women -- women who in fact resemble her -- have disappeared recently while vacationing at nearby beach communities. Christy doesn't know whom to fear more -- a serial killer who believes she might be able to identify him, or the DePalma family, whose tentacles she can't seem to escape.

Only when she's with Luke Rand, her big surfer-dude next-door neighbor, does she feel safe. But with Luke's asking so many questions about her ex-fianc￯﾿ﾽ and his showing up almost too conveniently whenever danger strikes, she can't help but wonder if his interest in her is due to more than sexual attraction. Can she trust this handsome stranger to help her survive a hot and deadly summer?

SYNOPSIS

A stunning new suspense thriller from the author of The Red Room and Killing Me Softly.

FROM THE CRITICS

New York Times Book Review

Nicci French seems to know exactly what thrills and terrifies....harrowing.

Publishers Weekly

A horrifying premise catalyzes this fast-paced, suspenseful thriller.......suspenseful and harrowing...with powerful narrative drive.

Entertainment Weekly

Genuine chills and page-turning suspense.

Romantic Times

An edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller...keeps the reader on a white-knuckled, hair-raising thrill ride until the last page.

Mystery News