cover image Darkness Falls

Darkness Falls

Joyce Anne Schneider. Pocket Books, $17.95 (310pp) ISBN 978-0-671-67317-8

Schneider's second novel (after Stryker's Children ) creates excitement despite an overload of crises and characters. Heading the cast, psychologist Amanda Hammond belongs to but sets herself apart from the rich, privileged crowd in a Connecticut town. Devoted to counseling troubled young people, Amanda mourns the death of a patient, a girl who had lived beside the Hammond mansion, virtually orphaned by her parents. The tragedy recalls the murder years earlier of the psychologist's mother, and involves her with the local police as well as with her former lover, Dr. Peter Barron, medical examiner. The romance reblooms while the investigation continues, but the killer remains at large, apparently invisible, and piling up victims in securely locked houses. After a heart-stopping crash, the case is solved, thanks mostly to Amanda's insights and Peter's forensic skills. (July)