Description:

From Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Spindler's underwhelming stand-alone stars Alexandra Clarkson, a doctoral student finishing her thesis in human belief systems, who was raised in San Francisco by her unstable mother, Patsy, not knowing who her father was. When Patsy is found dead, Alexandra questions whether it was by her own hand or if it's linked to a years-old crime in nearby Sonoma County—the apparent kidnapping of baby Dylan Sommer, the son of Harlan Sommer, of the Sommer family wine dynasty, and, as Alex discovers, Harlan's then wife, her mother, Patsy. Keen to find out her father's identity, Alex relocates to wine country, where she learns about the repressed first five years of her own life. Despite the happy family reunion, not everyone is pleased with Alex's return to the area, so Spindler (_Breakneck_) stirs the pot with a few instances of ritual sacrifice and not-so-coincidental deaths. In the end, a tidy resolution substitutes for the mouth-dropping revelation many thriller fans will expect. (Mar.)
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From

Alexandra Clarkson is suddenly haunted by frightening images of anonymous hooded people and a baby without a face. Daniel Reed, a police detective, believes that newly unearthed remains are those of a baby who was abducted 25 years ago. Alex discovers that her dying mother has been keeping secrets, and that Alex’s whole life might have been an illusion; then she finds out that she has a connection, not merely to Daniel Reed but also to the baby who disappeared all those years ago. All that in about 40 pages. Soon after, Spindler asks us to accept that Alex has entirely wiped from her memory a member of her own family, forgotten he ever existed. Despite its unnecessarily truncated opening (which makes its revelations seem silly, not suspenseful), and its general air of implausibility, the book does have some effective moments, and its story of family secrets and murder is not without interest. Still, this one is best recommended only to Spindler’s fans. --David Pitt