The Seduction

Wallace's ( So Shall You Reap ) satisfyingly surprising tale opens with two sisters, Lee Montara and Rosie Cooper, waiting determinedly in Rosie's rural upstate New York home for a nameless adversary ``to make his move'' against them. Lee, a magazine photo editor from New York City, is visiting her sister while avoiding Stewart McClaren, an intimidating photographer with an aggressive personal sales pitch. Her vacation began on a sour note: at an ice cream stand she stopped a hot-tempered man from getting rough with his wife. Soon such surprises as a bouquet of decaying yarrow stalks and a cake crawling with ants appear at the house, prompting Lee to wonder where Stewart is. Paul, Rosie's husband, alerts Sheriff Riley Hamm before leaving for a camping trip with his students. Riley figures that a photographer dangling after Lee is not police business. Then a corpse discovered on a nearby farm gives the plot a twist and makes Riley take notice. Despite Wallace's propensity to shunt off stage characters to whom Lee and Rosie might turn for help, this tale offers shivery delight to readers as the sisters inch toward identifying their stalker--just as he creeps closer to them. Author tour. (Nov.)