Desert Places
Blake Crouch
Dunne, Jan 2004, $23.95, 272 pp.
ISBN: 0312286449

The letter informs popular horror-suspense author Andy Thomas that the butchered corpse of missing schoolteacher Rita Jones is buried on his lake front property with all evidence proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Andy is the culprit. The correspondence contains a threat to abide by its instructions or the Charlotte police will be informed of the homicide. Andy assumes that the note is a prank from a crazy fan especially with how melodramatic it sounds, but still, he checks. To his horror he finds Rita's body and that he is set up to take the fall.

Andy has not seen Orson in over a decade. When they were roommates at Appalachian State University, Orson one day disappeared. In the ensuing years while Andy wrote novels that have been turned into movies, Orson randomly killed twelve people, cut out their hearts, and sent the collection of hearts to the White House once he achieved his objective. Now Orson challenges Andy to play a game of cat and mouse with the stakes being the elimination of a twin.

This seemingly Cain vs. Abel thriller is very exciting and adrenalin pumping, but lacks credible explanations re Orson's behavior until the very end and even that "elucidation" uses too much too late implication. Andy will receive empathy as he appears as a victim of his sibling's malice. Still readers who take delight in a taut war of survival with plenty of blood flowing and a twist so that nothing is quite like it seems will appreciate this high octane suspense tale that never slows down until the epilogue.

Harriet Klausner