Revenge isn't all it's cracked up to be in this thin tale of romantic suspense from Ellis (Silent Rage
) with its clever if underdeveloped conceit—preteen assassins. Anne Evans is a young widow and junior high school counselor in the South Bronx whose 1992 summer break on Fire Island leads to a relationship with Mark Cameron, an angry ex-con fresh out of prison after serving six years for a rape he didn't commit. When Mark discovers Anne is the stepdaughter of Lila Schrieber, the woman (now dead, along with Anne's beloved dad) who framed him, their love affair suffers. Once a college student aspiring to Columbia Law, Mark has now decided to get rich and get even by "setting up a syndicate of very young 'hit kids' "—a team of 12-year-old sociopaths, including Joey Devlin, a boy Anne's determined to save. Anne's love and a neighbor's startling revelation regarding the man Lila had actually been with on the night of the alleged rape spurs Mark to a change of heart. But is there time to stop a lethal plot he's set in motion to clear his name? (Aug.)
