Even in Darkness

A tortuous plot and shallow characters mar this psychological thriller from Hightower (The Piper). Joy Miller, a former TV evangelist based in Lexington, Ky., is distraught to receive a plain brown envelope in the mail that contains photos showing three of her fellow seminarians before and after being murdered. She suspects the sender is the person she refers to as the “Dark Man,” the mysterious curse of her life. A note with the photos warns against contacting the police, but when FBI agents tell her that her late son’s wife, Caroline, and her young granddaughter, Andee, are missing from their Fort Smith, Ark., home, Joy shares the photos but not what she knows about the likely sender. Joy, who feels that she alone can save Caroline and Andee, has to deal with suspicious FBI agents as well as additional threats from the Dark Man. By the end, readers will be more likely scratching their heads than trembling in their boots. Agent: Matt Bialer, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Apr.)