Legacy

Adrian Rizzo, the protagonist of this melodramatic thriller from bestseller Roberts (Hideaway), first meets her father, Jonathan Bennett, a university professor with a reputation for forcing sex on his students, at age seven when he barges into the Georgetown townhouse where she lives with her nanny, Mimi, and her mother, Lina Rizzo, a fitness expert with a successful business called Yoga Baby. After hitting Mimi, Jon attacks Adrian and Lina. Fighting back, Lina kills Jon by pushing him over a second-floor railing. Though the death is ruled self-defense, Lina, fearing the negative publicity, sends Adrian to her parents in the small town of Traveler’s Creek, Md. Meanwhile, Lina’s career soars, and Adrian’s summer with her loving grandparents is idyllic. Years later, Lina and Adrian, now a teenager, resettle in New York, where Adrian starts her own fitness company. But each February, Adrian receives a creepy poem coinciding with a woman’s murder in different parts of the country. Roberts knows how to entertain, but the plot follows formula and the gimmicky killer emerges as a caricature with transparent motives. Established fans will best appreciate this one. [em]Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House. (May) [/em]