After the Dark

Eden (Broken Angel) shines with this taut romantic thriller, which opens her Killer Instincts series. Hotshot profiler Samantha Dark leaves the FBI in disgrace after her ex-lover, Georgetown professor Cameron Latham, is exposed as a serial killer. But her former law enforcement partner, Blake Gamble, isn’t ready to let her go. Blake knows that not everything is as it seems—and that Samantha’s plan to hide out in her old Alabama hometown won’t save her. Hiding in plain sight, Cameron is determined to show Samantha a lesson, and what’s even worse is that Cameron has an acolyte, a student who’s trying to impress his mentor. As the body count rises, Samantha and Blake race to find these predators before they become prey. Eden pulls readers into Samantha’s head from the first page and takes them on a first-class thrill ride, complete with effective red herrings and characters who practically leap off the page. This tale could have been ripped from today’s newspaper headlines; it’s deeply disturbing and impressively believable. (Apr.)