The One That Got Away

Alex Salerno, the heroine of this unsettling psychological thriller from Clifford (Broken Ground and three other Jay Porter novels), travels from New York City to her hometown of Reine, N.Y., to be interviewed by Noah Lee, a 19-year-old reporter for the local college newspaper, about Kira Shanks, who went missing five years earlier when the girl was 18 and is now presumed dead. Seven years before Kira’s abduction, Alex, then 17, was the sole survivor of a killing spree in Reine in which six other girls were kidnapped. Noah believes there’s a link between Kira’s case and Alex’s, even though two separate men were convicted and sent to prison for the respective crimes. The second convicted killer, Benny Brudzienski, may be innocent. When Alex investigates, she’s nearly killed in the hotel room where Benny allegedly murdered Kira. A string of macabre clues leads Alex to a slew of suspects, all with hidden agendas. This seething story of small-town noir should appeal to fans of Jeffery Deaver’s The Bone Collector.[em] (Dec.) [/em]