Don’t Turn Around-Hunter Morgan

Don’t Turn Around
Hunter Morgan
Zebra, Jul 2008, $6.99
ISBN: 9780821779477

In Delaware in the middle of the night Linda Truman calls the Sussex County Hospital Victim Advocate Casey McDaniel pleading with her to help her as her former boyfriend Charlie Gaitlin is trying to break into her home. Casey calls the cops and rushes over to the terrorized woman’s house, but is too late; Linda is dead. The victim advocate gives sworn testimony that Linda named Charlie as her attacker on the phone and two weeks earlier, which led to her hospitalization. Charlie is locked up for four months as he could not make bail. At the hearing, however, ADA Adam Preston III informs a stunned Casey that Charlie is free on a nolle prosequi plea by the DA Office as the DNA evidence was not back and they were unprepared. Afterward Charlie warns Casey to keep looking over her shoulder.

At the hospital, Casey meets attorney Lincoln Tyndale over chili and crackers. They get on well together and she decides she would not mind seeing him again. Preston also wants to date her. However, apparently Charlie is acting out his threat to Casey as she receives nasty phone calls, letters, and emails that include threatening to kill her dad, and a widow suffering from Alzheimer’s. She was a victim once before and vowed never again, but this insidious campaign is frightening her as her dad is being used as a potential pawn to get at her.

This exciting romantic suspense thriller grips readers from the moment Charlie threatens Casey in the isolated parking lot by the court building in spite of doubts that such a locale during business hours would have no people moving about. The fast-paced story line contrasts the heroine’s attraction to Lincoln and Preston vs. the terror campaign. With a superb late twist that will stun readers though the clues are there, fans will appreciate this taut tale while looking back over their shoulders.

Harriet Klausner