Kate Brady, One Scream Away

After just a few years behind bars, Chevy Bankes is paroled from prison to hunt, attack, and kill female prey. During his time in jail, he obsessed over the woman who sent him away; blaming her for his incarceration though he assaulted her. Chevy is honing his craft torturing and murdering women with his plan to come for Beth Denison and her daughter Abby.

He calls her from the phone of his first victim just to say hello and warn her Abby is his target before Beth. As more women die, Beth's only hope to keep her daughter safe seems to be former FBI agent Neil Sheridan, but he is burned out having worked this case very poorly once before. She doubts she can rely on him while he sees her as his redemption for failing to keep a victim safe from Bankes. Together, they might stand a chance; separately they will be lucky to survive the ordeal from this lethal predator who waits inside Beth's home for the right moment.

One Scream Away is a terrific serial killer thriller that keeps the expected romance for the most part in the background; in fact the romantic subplot is unneeded distracting baggage. Beth and Neil are strong flawed characters whose past has returned with a vengeance; while Chevy is a more typical literary serial killer. Fans of tense cat and mouse confrontations will want to read this tense tale as Kate Brady is an author the sub-genre can bank on.

Harriet Klausner