FROM THE PUBLISHER

Every working mother's fears are realized in this canny domestic thriller about a Seattle family that, like most American families in the mid-nineties, suffers its fair share of disappointments. But it isn't until new neighbor Sue shows up that their worst fears are realized. Martha Stewart wanna-be, control freak, and supermom all rolled into one, Sue is the embodiment of high-energy domestic perfection. And she finds in the Jamisons a family much in need of her help, giving a whole new and demonic meaning to the phrase "busy as a bee." Anita and David Jamison's marriage has been strained ever since David's brilliant advertising career fell apart and Anita reluctantly returned to the work-place. As a househusband, David leaves a lot to be desired, and when we meet Anita she is at her wit's end and trying to resist the temptations of another man. Their two daughters are constantly squabbling and the oldest, Lily, is entering what promises to be a difficult adolescence. And, as if on cue, their house itself is coming apart at the seams. As Anita is slaving away at a job her family can't afford for her to lose, her new neighbor is busily insinuating herself into the household with one ingratiating gesture after another. Sue wends her way into David's heart through his bruised and unemployed ego, and, even more deviously, works to win over Anita's youngest daughter, Sylvie, through every maternal trick in the book. But her methods turn violent, and events take a deadly turn, when her tidy plans remain elusive.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

This villain of this light and clever suspense novel by the author, as K.K. Beck, of the Jane da Silva novels (Cold Smoked, etc.) is a cheerful, boundlessly energetic psychopath-next-door, whose house exudes domestic perfection. The Jamisons are a young family buckling under stress: David, a former ad exec, is now a depressed house-husband caring for two daughters, while Anita, his disenchanted wife, slogs through a career she never wanted and drifts into an affair. Money and tempers are short. To the rescue: the new neighbor, Sue Heffernan, who carves a tasteful little arch-shaped doorway through the hedge that separates their yards and infiltrates the Jamison householdfixing dinners, giving the floors a quick once-over, straightening clothes in the drawers, taking over the care of the Jamison's younger daughter, Sylvie, and eventually making her attractive, perky self sexually available to David. Lily, the sullen teenager who thinks Sue is a maniac, is the only one with 20/20 vision. David, who doesn't like Sue around at first, gives in. After all, Sue makes things so much easier for him. Readers will develop a hungry curiosity to find out how far Sue will go and what she's really after. Beck maintains an increasingly sinister atmosphere, and when an unexpected death turns out to be premeditated, we know that Sue has only just begun. Beck's deft pacing keeps readers furiously turning pages through the murderous, if implausible, homestretch. (Oct.)

Library Journal

Your standard dysfunctional family meets a demented June Cleaver in Beck's (Electric City, LJ 8/94) thinly plotted thriller. Father David Jamison is in charge of running the household but is too self-absorbed to attend to it. Mother Anita works to support the family and in her spare time initiates an affair. Teen daughter Lily is sullen, while young Sylvie drifts along. Then, super-efficient Sue and family move in next door. Sue, the perfect wife and mother, seems more than happy to help David with his responsibilities, and it soon becomes apparent that Sue would like to usurp Anita. Predictably, Sue's efforts become more aggressive, and accidents start to happen. Though the plot moves along quickly enough, the characters are underdeveloped and unlikable. Additionally, the wrap-up is too abrupt. All in all, this is a marginal purchase.Lori Dunn, Montgomery County P.L., Troy, N.C.

Kirkus Reviews

Predictable but well-wrought domestic thriller from mystery weaver K.K. Beck (Cold Smoked, 1995, etc.) that seemingly aims to meld a host of pop-culture references—from Martha Stewart Living to The Hand That Rocks the Cradle to Fatal Attraction.

The Jamisons, David and Anita, are going through a rough patch in their marriage. Ever since David fled his gig as a Seattle advertising guy, he's been freelancing—with limited success—out of his home, tending (poorly) to the couple's two daughters, Lily and Sylvie, while his wife struggles with her job as a clothing buyer. Anita has had it with David's promises to get back into advertising via two-bit local accounts. The interesting hook here—and what keeps Beck's plot humming—is that the Jamisons are cruising for a divorce long before Sue Heffernan and her husband, Roger, move in next door. Sue's a veritable vision of maternal grace next to career-concerned Anita: She decorates in a nurturing style, takes time out for Anita's girls, knows how to mold aspics. Sue also has her sights set on Sylvie, the younger of Anita and David's daughters (Sue herself is stuck with two sons who spend all their time playing video games). After she carves a doorway in the hedge that separates her house from the Jamison place, Sue becomes a constant presence in their lives, volunteering her domestic services so that David can slip ever deeper into lethargic self-pity. Meanwhile, Anita flings herself into an affair with a lawyer, a move that her mother (who detests David) applauds. David, not one to be outdone, commits his own infidelity with Sue. Anita files for divorce, Sue's husband drops dead under suspicious circumstances, and David takes a few more steps into Sue's web. . . .

A reasonably compelling effort that derives juice more from its characters' grumblings about house-bound mundanity than anything truly scary.