Red, Red Robin [Mass Market Paperback]

British writer Gallagher produces a serial-killer novel of intense psychological suspense in this 1995 thriller.

An Englishwoman who has adopted Philadelphia as her home, Ruth Lasseter is having an affair with the boss. When she needs a date for a company function she turns to an escort service, choosing a shockingly young and handsome date who enchants her with his perfect manners and romantic attentions.

But the young man, Tim Hagan, is not satisfied with one night. He begins a stalking campaign which escalates into a nightmare of violence. Ruth escapes, with the help of Aidan Kincannon, an ex-cop turned security guard, but loses her lover, her job and her self-assurance. A year later Ruth is living in Aidan's house. His sometime lover, she is obsessed full-time with Hagan and refuses to accept news of his death.

She embarks on a search into his past, peeling away layers, finding horrors. Aidan, who's made poor choices in his life, develops as a man of deep integrity, bravery and uncertainty. Meanwhile Ruth's ex-lover's vengeful wife, a lawyer, is determined to have Ruth deported. And the career of Tim Hagan is once again steering him on a collision course with Ruth.

Gallagher focuses on character development, making his people steer the plot. A riveting read with enough unusual quirks to make it stand out.

What makes one thriller about a crazed killer so much different from another? Why do I want to advise you to rush out now and get your hands on a copy of Red, Red Robin any way you can, and encourage you to write Ballantine Books to persuade them to get this book back in print? Although the plot is good, there are other, lesser books with similar plots--casual acquaintance becomes stalker becomes deranged killer isn't exactly a novelty. Other writers write equally good characters, and an intensity of pacing has become standard in today's fiction. But Red, Red Robin does all this and more. Where Stephen Gallagher succeeds best is his focus--not on the single-minded cop who chases down the killer, nor on the maniacal lunatic himself, but on the victim. Of course, in today's high-bodycount slasherfests of fiction, any novel based on the victim's point of view is likely to become a short-short story instead, but Gallagher sidesteps this trap deftly, instead apparently killing off the killer early on. Of course this is a red herring ("Why wasn't the book called Red, Red Herring?", I hear you ask) and we all know it. Where an author like Dean Koontz would follow with an interminable and fairly mindless chase, Gallagher instead takes the opportunity to explore the consequences of the abduction and near-death upon his protagonist. And here he excels as a writer, making us truly feel the uncertainty, the worthlessness, and the constant paralyzing fear of the victim long after any threat has passed. For this, Red, Red Robin deserves a read. So don't be a victim of bad marketing decisions yourself-- get off the web now and write that letter to the good people at Ballantine Books!

Another story about a serial killer. This one starts well
but loses its way. The central characters never really come to life
and as the author searches for twist after twist it becomes
more and more implausible.