Cages

In this intermittently suspenseful psychological thriller from Mark (the Aector McAvoy series), Annabeth Harris, who was troubled as a teenager, years later shares a home with her teenage son in Yorkshire and has a good job as a prison guard at HMP Holderness. However, she’s hiding a terrible secret that’s not so subtly suggested in the prologue. Annabeth invites alcoholic author Rufus Orton, of whom she’s an avid fan, to teach a creative writing course at Holderness, and since Rufus is desperate for money, he accepts. Prisoner Griffin Cox, who’s serving time for abducting a teenage girl and the prime suspect in the disappearance of several missing people, is intent on enrolling in Orton’s class. Cox plans to use Orton to escape and get back to his life’s work: murder. But someone else also has a scheme underway and intends to win in what develops into a deranged life-or-death contest. Well-defined characters make up only in part for heavy-handed plotting. Mark has done better. (June)