WICKED GAME

Author: Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush ISBN: 9781420103380 2/2009 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: KENSINGTON

One By One, They'll Die. . . Twenty years ago, wild child Jessie Brentwood vanished from St. Elizabeth's high school. Most in Jessie's tight circle of friends believed she simply ran away. Few suspected that Jessie was hiding a shocking secret—one that brought her into the crosshairs of a vicious killer. . . Until There's No One Left. . . Two decades pass before a body is unearthed on school grounds and Jessie's old friends reunite to talk. Most are sure that the body is Jessie's, that the mystery of what happened to her has finally been solved. But soon, Jessie's friends each begin to die in horrible, freak accidents that defy explanation. . . But Her. . . Becca Sutcliff has been haunted for years by unsettling visions of Jessie, certain her friend met with a grisly end. Now the latest deaths have her rattled. Becca can sense that an evil force is shadowing her too, waiting for just the right moment to strike. She feels like she's going crazy. Is it all a coincidence—or has Jessie's killer finally returned to finish what was started all those years ago?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

WICKED GAME is a creepy, romantic suspense novel perfect for a before Halloween read. Granted, it came out in February and already has at least one sequel out, but I’m a little behind.

It’s the story of a Portland, Oregon area high school clique who are haunted by the death of one of their own when they were in school. They had hoped she was a runaway, not a murder victim, but nearly twenty years later a skeleton is found and it is assumed to be hers.

Everything starts going wrong. Becca, the heroine, starts having visions again and other lives fall apart. Some of their crowd is murdered. Who is the killer? Is their friend really dead? Another member of the clique was once the presumed-dead girl’s boyfriend. Later, Becca had an affair with him. They rekindle their romance as their lives fill with chaos.

WICKED GAME is perfect for those long fall nights. It’s a big read with lots of atmosphere. Pull it out of your TBR pile!

Heather Hiestand