Eileen Dreyer Sinners and Saints

Sinners and Saints

Eileen Dreyer

St. Martin's, Sept 2005, $24.95, 384 pp.

ISBN 0312330685

Just when forensic nurse Chastity O'Connor believes she has her life on track, a call from New Orleans turns her world upside down. The brother-in-law she never knew she had calls to tell her that her sister Faith is missing. Chastity hasn't seen her sister or her mother in a decade ever since they abandoned her when she was sixteen forcing her to live on the streets.

Even though she knows her sister blames her for sending their father to jail, Chastity goes to New Orleans to help in the search for her sibling who she believes disappeared when her mother died in order to escape reality. Three women associated with Faith and the fertility clinic where she was donating her eggs have been murdered all by the same killer. Chastity now fears that Faith ran because she was afraid for her life. Desperate to find her sister, she falls into a murderer's trap but with the assistance of a sexy cab driver, she might escape in time to save her sister.

The heroine is one of the most courageous characters to ever grace the pages of a novel. Despite the abuse she suffered as a child and overcoming traumatic fears, she makes the effort to save the sister who discarded her and never tried to make contact with her. The villain is hidden in plain sight and will come as quite a shock to the readers who never would have guessed the identity. Eileen Dreyer writes a brilliant crime thriller that starts off fast and never slows down until the last page is turned while also filled with excellent characterizations, realistic action scenes and terrific pacing.

Harriet Klausner