Rick Philips was the only survivor of a high school shooting. Though severely injured, he recovered and published the story of that fateful day. His book, SHELTER IN PLACE, became a bestseller and Rick achieved a measure of fame and fortune along with a job teaching at DuPont University. He's still tortured by nightmares, failed marriages and has no further success at writing. Nearly broke and an alcoholic, he attends a writer's conference and meets a most unusual woman, Harriet Bristol Wheeler. She has a proposition for him -- write her story. Harriet reveals a secret to Rick: she's a serial killer. She says she will tell all and he will write the book. She even offers him something he's not sure he can refuse -- she will commit a final murder and he can name the victim. NO SPOILERS.
This was interesting but the quirky writing style made the narrative quite confusing. Harriet is a chameleon and Rick a drunk so it's hard to know sometimes what is real and what is not. Neither of the characters was likeable and their motivations were hard to believe or empathize with despite the fact that I really wanted to do so. Most of it required me to have the capacity to suspend disbelief. I'm not sure of the facts about serial killers are correct but it's true, female serials are not as common as male ones. I think I was wanting more detail than was given about Harriet, her victims and the truth. After all the meandering about finding evidence to prove to Rick that Harriet was honest about what she had done, the conclusion came rather abruptly and there seemed to be a sense that the ending was too pat and unfinished. Would I read another book by this author? I don't know.
Thank you to NetGalley and the author for this e-book ARC to read and review.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - action, drama, thriller (sort of)
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