Cross My Heart

The recipient of a heart transplant develops an obsessive crush on the husband of her donor in this spine-tingling suspense tale from Collins (Thicker than Water). While using an anonymous email service to message her heart donor’s husband, Boston-area bridal shop manager Rosie Lachlan comes to suspect that the man she’s messaging is famed local author Morgan Thorne. Rosie has always enjoyed Morgan’s novels, but after she starts following him on social media, she begins to fall for him. She develops a plan to go to Morgan’s home and tell him that she received his wife’s heart after she supposedly died of a head injury, secretly hoping that the revelation might spark a romance. Soon, however, her research into Morgan’s past unearths some unsettling dirty laundry in his marriage, and before long, Rosie lands at the center of a murder investigation that requires her to prove her innocence while dodging the real killer. Collins expertly homes in on her characters’ complexities, nailing the way Rosie’s vulnerability gradually slips into obsession. With a pulse-pounding finale and plenty of exciting plot twists along the way, this is difficult to put down. Agent: Sharon Pelletier, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Jan.)