Attorney-author Deaver, whose Manhattan Is My Beat was an Edgar nominee, delivers a harrowing and substantial suspense thriller. The investigation into the murder of Auden University coed Jennie Gebben, whose mutilated body is found in a ``bed of muddied hyacinths,'' coincides with crises in the life of Lt. Bill Corde of New Lebanon, Ind. While the case draws Corde into a maelstrom of academic politics and sexual obsession, his learning-impaired nine-year-old daughter writes stories about a wizard named the Sunshine Man, his teenaged son constructs sexual fantasies from multiple viewings of a science fiction film, and his wife finds comfort with the young professor who tutors their daughter. As more murders occur at the financially endangered college and hysteria about cult killings pervades the community, Corde's family is harassed by snapshots and notes somehow secreted into private areas of the house. As Corde follows an intricate trail emblazoned with sadomasochism, bisexuality and vaulting academic ambition, he is surrounded by well-drawn secondary characters: his children, the villain, certain venal academics and a security guard. Terror steadily accelerates in this page-turner until the final riveting secrets are revealed. (May)

One murdered college student and then another seem to indicate the presence of a serial killer in the small town of New Lebanon. Bill Corde, the investigating detective, finds his family threatened by a killer who appears to know them all too well. As Corde hunts the killer, others scramble to protect their own secrets until Corde at last learns the complex pattern leading to the deaths. Corde's nine-year-old daughter, Sarah, hampered by a learning disability, is both a potential victim and star of the story. The family's struggles to identify and deal with her problems make a highly satisfying counterpart to the police-procedural aspects of the plot. Although the author ( Mistress of Justice , LJ 8/92, among others) has overloaded his story with characters and subplots, he provides enough complications to entice any reader-detective. The characters have the inconsistencies and frailties of real life. Highly recommended for popular fiction collections.-- Elsa Pendleton, Boeing Computer Support Svcs., Ridgecrest, Cal.

There is no thriller writer today like Jeffery Deaver.”—San Jose Mercury News

“A harrowing and substantial suspense thriller . . . Terror steadily accelerates in this page-turner until the final riveting secrets are revealed.”—Publishers Weekly