Miscione hits the ground running, quite literally, in her debut novel featuring crime writer Lydia Strong, who tries to exorcise through running ("her religion," she says) the demons that haunt her from her mother's brutal rape and murder some 15 years earlier. Strong has taken refuge in rural Angel Fire, N.Mex., far from suburban New York where, delinquent from school one day, she returned home to find her mother's "arms tied over her head, her wrists bleeding.... Her throat was slit from ear to ear." This early scene of mayhem sets the tone for a grim tale of dark and twisted minds committing ever more ghoulish crimes against parishioners of a local church run by a sinister priest and a blind mystic. The author spares no detail in her descriptions of mutilated bodies buried in odd places with their hearts cut out. Strong herself becomes the target of a psychopathic killer and seeks assistance from sympathetic former colleague Jeffrey Mark, an ex-NYPD investigator who flies in for the duration. There's a surreal and nightmarish quality to this story as innocents, one after another, are drawn to their slaughter soon after seeking help from Juno, an enigmatic guitar player believed by the locals to have godlike healing powers. Vengeance Is Mine, the title of Strong's bestseller (not to mention of an early Mickey Spillane bestseller), is also the message sent by a sick mind bent on destroying nearly everyone in this unfortunate mountain village. This novel isn't for readers with weak stomachs, but it remains gripping and terrifying right through the carnage of its final scene. Agent, Elaine Markson.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Award-winning true crime writer and intuitive investigative consultant Lydia Strong discovered her mother dead, the gory victim of a serial rapist/murderer. Still haunted by the memory but looking for new subject matter 15 years later, she finds clues to what she believes is another serial murderer in Santa Fe. It soon transpires that Lydia is on the short list of a warped, scary perpetrator with a penchant for scalpels, blood, and dissection. Taut prose, insidious suspense, psychological motivation, police procedural sidebars, and a would-be lover make this debut from a former member of the publishing world a real winner. Don't miss it.
Description:
From Publishers Weekly
Miscione hits the ground running, quite literally, in her debut novel featuring crime writer Lydia Strong, who tries to exorcise through running ("her religion," she says) the demons that haunt her from her mother's brutal rape and murder some 15 years earlier. Strong has taken refuge in rural Angel Fire, N.Mex., far from suburban New York where, delinquent from school one day, she returned home to find her mother's "arms tied over her head, her wrists bleeding.... Her throat was slit from ear to ear." This early scene of mayhem sets the tone for a grim tale of dark and twisted minds committing ever more ghoulish crimes against parishioners of a local church run by a sinister priest and a blind mystic. The author spares no detail in her descriptions of mutilated bodies buried in odd places with their hearts cut out. Strong herself becomes the target of a psychopathic killer and seeks assistance from sympathetic former colleague Jeffrey Mark, an ex-NYPD investigator who flies in for the duration. There's a surreal and nightmarish quality to this story as innocents, one after another, are drawn to their slaughter soon after seeking help from Juno, an enigmatic guitar player believed by the locals to have godlike healing powers. Vengeance Is Mine, the title of Strong's bestseller (not to mention of an early Mickey Spillane bestseller), is also the message sent by a sick mind bent on destroying nearly everyone in this unfortunate mountain village. This novel isn't for readers with weak stomachs, but it remains gripping and terrifying right through the carnage of its final scene. Agent, Elaine Markson.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Award-winning true crime writer and intuitive investigative consultant Lydia Strong discovered her mother dead, the gory victim of a serial rapist/murderer. Still haunted by the memory but looking for new subject matter 15 years later, she finds clues to what she believes is another serial murderer in Santa Fe. It soon transpires that Lydia is on the short list of a warped, scary perpetrator with a penchant for scalpels, blood, and dissection. Taut prose, insidious suspense, psychological motivation, police procedural sidebars, and a would-be lover make this debut from a former member of the publishing world a real winner. Don't miss it.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.