Mind Games

Bestseller Roberts (Inheritance) returns with a busy supernatural thriller that stuffs in romance, murder, telekinesis, and a few handy tips on candle-making. When Thea Fox is 12 years old, her parents drive her and her brother to their grandmother Lucy’s bucolic Kentucky farm for a two-week stay. The night they arrive, Thea and Lucy are awakened by the same dream in which Thea’s parents are brutally murdered. The next morning, their joint nightmare comes true, and Thea’s vivid description of the dream helps the police track down the killer, Ray Riggs, who’s swiftly arrested, convicted, and sentenced to life in a maximum-security prison. As Thea grows up on Lucy’s farm, launches her career as a video game designer, and meets the love of her life, she remains haunted by psychic episodes similar to the one she and her grandmother shared—especially when Riggs starts infiltrating those episodes and forcing Thea to witness his own dark thoughts. Will she be able to shake his presence without meeting him face-to-face? Die-hard Roberts fans will get what they came for: there’s no shortage of romance, cliffhangers, or cottage-core rhapsodizing on offer. Those elements wind up fighting for space, however, and the plot never really catches fire. This is unlikely to win Roberts many new admirers. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House. (May)