Dying
Scream
Non-series
Mary
Burton
Zebra
(Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-4201--0028-9 (1420100289)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4201--0028-0 (9781420100280)
Publication Date: December 2009
List Price: $6.99
Synopsis (from
the publisher): An aspiring artist. A high-school senior. A stripper.
Three women who seemed to have nothing in common except their sudden
disappearance. But one man knew them all. Wealthy, privileged Craig
Thornton even claimed to love them. And for that, they paid the
ultimate price.
When Adrianna Barrington receives an anniversary card from her husband
Craig, she assumes it's some crackpot's idea of a joke. After all,
Craig is dead. But then come phone calls, flowers, messages. . .all
reminding her how much Craig misses her. While Adrianna begins to doubt
her sanity, grisly remains are found on the Thornton estate. Detective
Gage Hudson is convinced the bodies are linked to Craig. But the
biggest shocks are yet to come.
A psychopath has taken up his chilling work again, each death a prelude
to the moment when she is under his control at last. And the only way
for Gage and Adrianna to stop him is to uncover the truth about a
family's dark past--and a twisted love that someone will kill for,
again and again ...
Review:
A young widow receives messages purportedly from her dead husband, a
man she's now not sure she ever knew when he's accused of killing a
number of women as long as ten years ago, in Dying Scream,
a romantic suspense thriller by Mary Burton.
Craig Thornton was injured in a car accident and died nine months ago,
never awakening from the coma he was in. Taking back her family name,
his widow, Adrianna Harrington, is wrapping up the sale of their estate
in suburban Richmond (Virginia). The house and grounds date back almost
200 years, and include a private cemetery that the new owners are
requiring be relocated prior to moving in. The company moving the
graves, however, makes an unexpected discovery: the skeletal remains of
a body not in a grave proper. Detective Gage Hudson is assigned to the
case, and immediately tries to make a connection to two cold cases for
his department, women who went missing, both having a direct
association with Adrianna's late husband, Craig. But Adrianna has a
problem of her own: someone is trying to make her believe Craig is
still alive ... and wants to be with her again.
Dying
Scream starts quickly,
sketching in the details of Adrianna's past and present life in the
first few chapters and setting the stage for the (unfortunately rather
predictable) final chapters. But the pacing of the story is uneven,
there is far too much irrelevant and unnecessarily repeated
information, and the overall impression is one of a thriller that isn't
quite as polished as it could have been. Stylistically it wavers
between being a police procedural and a Southern gothic-style suspense
novel, yet is not really satisfying from either perspective. Even the
romantic elements come off as obligatory and half-hearted, as it were. Dying Scream
may work well as a lunchtime or subway read, but it's not a book that
will take your breath away.
Special thanks to Joan Schulhafer Publishing and Media Consulting for providing an ARC of Dying Scream for this review.
Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Dying Scream? How would you rate it?
Novels by this author …
In
Dark Waters
Silhouette (Mass Market Paperback), July 2005
ISBN-10: 0-373-27448-3 (0373274483)
ISBN-13: 978-0-373-27448-2 (9780373274482)
The
Arsonist
Silhouette (Mass Market Paperback), March 2006
ISBN-10: 0-373-27480-7 (0373274807)
ISBN-13: 978-0-373-27480-2 (9780373274802)
Wise
Moves
Silhouette (Mass Market Paperback), July 2006
ISBN-10: 0-373-27496-3 (0373274963)
ISBN-13: 978-0-373-27496-3 (9780373274963)
I'm
Watching You
Kensington (Mass Market Paperback), December 2007
ISBN-10: 1-4201-0026-2 (1420100262)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4201-0026-6 (9781420100266)
Cold
Case Cop
Silhouette (Mass Market Paperback), January 2008
ISBN-10: 0-373-27568-4 (0373275684)
ISBN-13: 978-0-373-27568-7 (9780373275687)
Dead
Ringer
Kensington (Mass Market Paperback), December 2008
ISBN-10: 1-4201-0027-0 (1420100270)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4201-0027-3 (9781420100273)
Dying Scream
Zebra (Mass Market Paperback), December 2009
ISBN-10: 1-4201--0028-9 (1420100289)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4201--0028-0 (9781420100280)
Omnimystery
keywords for Dying Scream
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Location(s) referenced: Richmond, Virginia.
