Rebecca Drake Don’t Be Afraid

Don't Be Afraid

Rebecca Drake

Pinnacle, Sept 2006, $6.95, 400 pp.

ISBN 0786018054

Sick of her husband cheating on her, Amy Moran leaves Manhattan and moves with her asthmatic daughter Emma to the small Connecticut town of Steerforth where major crimes seldom happen. Amy gets a job as a realtor and she goes to track fellow realtor and good friend Sheila at a house that they are selling. When Amy arrives at the place, she finds Shelia's dead body in an upstairs bedroom stapled to the floor.

At first the police believe Sheila's abusive ex-husband is the murderer but when they finally catch up to him, he has an airtight alibi. Attention shifts to Amy when she finds the owner of house she is trying to sell murdered in the same way as Sheila died. The police take her in for questioning but release her when her daughter has a severe asthmatic attack. Detective Mark Juarez discovers that a serial killer using the same M.O. was operating in New Jersey but was never caught. Amy hopes the police have better luck in Steerforth because evidence points to her as the next victim.

DON'T BE AFRAID is a high octane thriller that starts off at warp speed and never slows down for an instant. Unlike many works in this sub-genre, the author doesn't neglect her characters, writing them as three dimensional people who have flaws but except for the killer are basically good people. Rebecca Drake has created a heroine who is easy to like but it is her daughter who steals the show.

Harriet Klausner