Joy Fielding, Heartstopper

Heartstopper

Joy Fielding

Atria, Apr 2007, $24.95

ISBN: 0743295986

Torrance, Florida, with its population of under 4,200 residents is a quaint town where the locals know one another on a first name basis and can walk safely alone at night. The sheriff John Weber does little more than break up an occasional bar brawl and domestic disputes. Trapped in a loveless marriage with an anorexic daughter, John regrets that his off-and-on lover Kerri Franklin is seriously involved with newcomer Ian Crosbie. Having left Rochester, New York, because of her husband Ian's desire to start fresh in Torrance, Sandy moves her family there but he soon leaves her and their teenage children Megan and Tim because he wants to be with Kerri. She understands he wanted reality not virtual lovemaking with his online sex partner Kerri.

While the adults imitate Peyton Place, the most popular high school female student Liana Martin is kidnapped; eventually she is found dead from a shotgun blast to her face. Another woman in a nearby town disappears in a similar manner, but her corpse has not been found yet though law enforcement fears the worst. When babe magnet and wife abuser Cal Hamilton's wife's body is found by Kerri's daughter Delilah, the police arrest the father. A search of his apartment finds trophies of the dead women. The townsfolk sigh of relief is short-lived because a predator remains free to kill.

Joy Fielding writes some of the best thrillers on the market today (see MAD RIVER ROAD). Readers who like the works of Mary Higgins Clark and Patricia McDonald will enjoy HEARTSTOPPER. The characters are fully drawn as they make mistakes which enhance the realism of the prime storyline. There is plenty of action and a growing sense of horror as the killer seems increasingly invincible. Though a serial killer preying on a small town is a common theme, Ms. Fielding refreshes her plot with a whodunit that will keep the audience guessing until the shocking climax.

Harriet Klausner