"Very good read!"
Our heroine, Gina Adams, is once again being stalked. This
is not the first time she's been stalked either. Since her
boss is too cheap to give out Christmas bonuses, he gives
his staff a two-hour lunch during the months of November
and December. So Gina spends most of her lunch hour
walking around the city. Every time she goes out, she
picks up her stalker. Finally tired of it, Gina decides to
go to the police station and report it. Detectives Max Renford and Terri Vilnas are the two police
officers assigned to help Gina. One look at the waif
sitting on the bench by herself, and Max is determined to
get to know her better. Of course, the fact they're part
of the Special Task Force under Inspector Clasp of the FBI
makes them glad of the excuse to work on something else
for a change. It turns out there's a serial killer lose in
Minneapolis and Max volunteered himself and his partner
for the Special Task Force. After Max has Gina work with
the police artist, Terri takes it to one of the computer
guys and it turns out to be a woman who was murdered years
ago. When Max and Terri run into Hillary, a psychiatrist
consulting with the Special Task Force, they find out a
bit more about Gina. It turns out Gina was the only
survivor when her father went mad on the psych drugs he
was given and murdered his entire family, including in-
laws and brothers and sisters. Immediately after the
tragedy, Gina was made a ward of the state and sent to a
sanatorium, where she was medicated into an almost
catatonic state. Hillary found Gina there and took an
interest in the girl. It turns out that even though this
happened to Gina when she was ten years old and she's
never attended school since that time, Gina is a genius
and is exceptionally sensitive. Why has this dead woman decided to show herself to Gina?
What information does she have to impart to Gina? What of
the attraction between Max and Gina? Will anything develop
from it? And don't forget the serial killer. Is it someone
they all know? THE CRACKED SHADOW is an engrossing read. E.A. Petrick did
a wonderful job of drawing me into the story and keeping
me turning the pages throughout. She draws a very detailed
portrait of her heroine, Gina Adams, who manages to
survive in spite of the horrible circumstances of her
youth and with what she is enduring now. This story also
gives us a look into the conditions of a halfway house.
And our hero, Max, finds himself enchanted with Gina and
her strength and pulls her into their investigation. This
story is filled with a bit of everything from spirits and
love, to a psychopathic killer. I truly enjoyed this story
and think you will too!
Reviewed by Chere Gruver
Posted June 21, 2007
|
