THE DEADLIEST DENIAL

Author: Colleen Thompson ISBN: 050552670 5/2006 SUSPENSE Publisher: DORCHESTER

The worst day of Claire's life begins with a 5:00 AM knock on her door, the summons every cop's wife dreads. But instead of telling her Spence is gone, killed in the line of duty, his sergeant has even worse news for Claire. Her husband is in jail. For murder. And there is irrefutable evidence that the person he really wants dead is her. But betrayal turns to terror when Spence skips out on his bail and someone begins vandalizing her horse ranch. In the fury of a Texas thunderstorm, her husband reappears with a story that sounds all too credible and a seductive magnetism Claire has never been able to resist. Is her refusal to turn him in, her need to believe in his innocence , nothing but The Deadliest Denial?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

As far as mysteries go, I have most definitely read better than THE DEADLIEST DENIAL. I have read worse, but this one was too slow going for my taste. The good news is, it does get better; it takes a startling—and unsettling—turn actually, and that keeps it from being a total loss.

If you can hang with it long enough, you might get into the plot about half way through. Heck, you may even come to enjoy it. Unfortunately for me, I didn't care about the characters or their situation enough to really develop an interest. That still surprises me, because the subject matter is intense and deep. The characters don't reflect that. I didn't get a sense of their lives before their problems, so perhaps that is why I really couldn't care.

I like thrillers that are hard to put down. This one wasn't.

Shannon Johnson