One Last Kiss

Kelman's (If I Should Die) latest thriller opens with the death of powerful Sen. Simon Gallatin. All evidence suggests that the killer is Gallatin's girlfriend, the beautiful, plucky artist Thea Harper. But Harper not only has no memory of committing the crime, she can't remember doing anything that night. Charged with murder, Harper gets off the hook when a brilliant psychiatrist convinces a jury she suffered temporary insanity. Harper is haunted by images of the dead Gallatin and can't make sense of why he died-or why she might have killed him. Then another brutal murder occurs in the area, and another. Each time Harper suffers the same memory lapse, and each time her mind fixes on images from the crime scene before she hears about the murders in the news. Is Harper an insane killer? Or is she being framed? The setup is intriguing, but astute readers will easily guess the truth, and the rushed conclusion leaves some loose ends. All the same, Kelman's skillful pacing and a slew of interesting characters make this compelling. (Oct.)