From Publishers Weekly
Kelman's (If I Should Die) latest thriller opens with the death of powerful Sen. Simon Gallatin. All evidence suggests that the killer is Gallatin's girlfriend, the beautiful, plucky artist Thea Harper. But Harper not only has no memory of committing the crime, she can't remember doing anything that night. Charged with murder, Harper gets off the hook when a brilliant psychiatrist convinces a jury she suffered temporary insanity. Harper is haunted by images of the dead Gallatin and can't make sense of why he died-or why she might have killed him. Then another brutal murder occurs in the area, and another. Each time Harper suffers the same memory lapse, and each time her mind fixes on images from the crime scene before she hears about the murders in the news. Is Harper an insane killer? Or is she being framed? The setup is intriguing, but astute readers will easily guess the truth, and the rushed conclusion leaves some loose ends. All the same, Kelman's skillful pacing and a slew of interesting characters make this compelling.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Description
The papers dubbed beautiful Thea Harper Westport a Black Widow. They said she lured Senator Simon Gallatin to her home for a night of deadly passion. But psychiatrists insisted it was a short circuit of the mind, a rare seizure disorder, that had unleashed Thea's murderous rage. Now, even after the trial, the gruesome testimony of detectives and forensic specialists, Thea can't remember the terrifying moment when she struck Simon down . . . only its hideous aftermath: the torrent of blood, the broken corpse, the cold steel bite of the handcuffs as the police led her away. After six months in a posh Connecticut mental hospital, Thea is back home with her daughter, eager to make a new start. If only the community would let her forget . . . if only the chief of police wasn't after her . . . if only the senator's mother wasn't vowing revenge. And if only Thea could be sure she's really been cured. For soon the killing begins again. And once more Thea can't remember . . . even when she wakes up with her hands stained with blood.
