Vicki Delany, Scare the Night Away

Scare the Night Away

Vicki Delany

Poisoned Pen, Mar 2005, $24.95, 346 pp.

ISBN: 1590581415

Vancouver bank executive and widow Rebecca McKenzie swore she would never return to her home town of Hope River. However, the only person who could ever possibly get Rebecca to return, her beloved mom, died so she has come home for the funeral. Her father welcomes her as if she was never away; her older sister Shirley resents her; her older brother Jimmy wants her to forgive him for his behavior as a teen towards her when he emulated their sociopathic grandfather with Rebecca being an abused victim.

Her dad gives her diaries that her mom kept especially during World War II when she a Brit, married a Canadian soldier and relocated to Canada where she met "It" - her terrorizing father-in-law. In town, she is accosted by two angry men who blame Jimmy as a former convict for the disappearance of a popular high school student, Jennifer Taylor. As Rebecca meets her nieces, nephews and other relatives for the first time and reads the diaries she begins to feel for her father and her siblings. As the trio reconciles, Rebecca investigates what happened to Jennifer since she no longer believes the reformed Jimmy did anything.

SCARE THE NIGHT AWAY is a fabulous, Canadian family drama with the suspense that comes in the latter half of the tale serving as the catalyst towards bringing an estranged family together. The storyline is character-driven mostly by Rebecca and how she relates with her father, her siblings, their spouses, children, and grandchildren. The diary serves as a solid subplot describing Rebecca's sociopathic grandfather terrorizing her parents. Readers will enjoy the cell phone ending to a strong character study.

Harriet Klausner