Heather Graham The Island

The Island

Heather Graham

Mira, Mar 2006, $21.95

ISBN: 0778322831

With members of the yacht club where she works, Beth Anderson looks forward to spending her vacation with her widower brother Ben, his fourteen years old daughter Amber and her best pal Kim Smith on tiny Calliope Key, two to three hours from Miami. That is she has R&R until the three females find a human skull, which Beth ponders if this is the remains of one of the missing expert sailors, retirees Ted and Molly Monaco.

When stranger Keith Henson arrives, Beth hides the finding. Her niece gives the newcomer the ten second third degree that only a young teen (or Macaulay Culkin in Uncle Buck) could perform. When Beth returns for the hidden skull, she finds it missing; Ben insists it was a conch. However, Beth believes whoever took the skull remains nearby ready to kill two teens and two adult siblings if needed. Keith offers to help her, but though attracted to him she wonders if he is the one who uncovered and re-hid the skull, making him the killer, but the case will twist much more bizarrely than simply that.

THE ISLAND is an exhilarating romantic suspense with the emphasis on red herrings, twists and turns (perhaps too many), and plenty of action as Beth tries to learn the truth about the vanishing skull which soon leads into "Sail into Terror". Beth is courageous as she struggles with what she knows (very little), what she speculates (a lot more all lethal), what to do and who to trust. The story line works because the ensemble cast seems genuine, as differing motives surface. Adding to the thriller is an intriguing secondary romance between Ben and a suspect that can only turn out bad for someone. Heather Graham's fans will enjoy sea cruising to THE ISLAND.

Harriet Klausner