"Psychological suspense in the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock"
They met when they were both racing their expensive sports
cars out on the open road, a ride that ended in them
making love in an abandoned barn. When he left she didn't
know his name but he got in touch with her a few weeks
later and they started dating. Lenny Maxted was a famous
comic who teamed up with Jack Flowers and their act was in
demand by an adoring public but Alice loved all of him
though Lenny was drowning in drugs and depression. He committed suicide leaving a note for Alice but his
death devastated her and she married another man while
mourning. That marriage only lasted for three years
before she divorced him and moved into the home that Lenny
bought for her. Time and her animals healed many of her
wounds but they were opened up again when she got a news
clipping in the mail about a body found in a nearby lake.
Alice immediately thinks of Kitty who disappeared after
she and Lenny reconciled. A few days later Jack shows up
and Alice is plunged into a nightmare that she might never
recover from. Laura Wilson has written a dark gritty noir novel that is
all too believable. Neither Alice nor Jack is
particularly admirable characters but aside from sex and
drugs, Alice never crosses the line into criminal
activity. Although Lenny is dead when the book opens his
presence is felt throughout the novel, a week pathetic
person who depended on drugs to help him through life's
dark spots. TELLING LIES TO ALICE is a fast work of
psychological suspense in the tradition of Alfred
Hitchcock. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted February 21, 2004
|
