Synopsis (from
the publisher):
One By One, They’ll Die …
Twenty years ago, wild child Jessie Brentwood vanished from St.
Elizabeth’s high school. Most in Jessie’s tight circle of
friends believed she simply ran away. Few suspected that Jessie was
hiding a shocking secret—one that brought her into the crosshairs
of a vicious killer …
Until There’s No One Left …
Two decades pass before a body is unearthed on school grounds and
Jessie’s old friends reunite to talk. Most are sure that the body
is Jessie’s, that the mystery of what happened to her has finally
been solved. But soon, Jessie’s friends each begin to die in
horrible, freak accidents that defy explanation …
But Her …
Becca Sutcliff has been haunted for years by unsettling visions of
Jessie, certain her friend met with a grisly end. Now the latest deaths
have her rattled. Becca can sense that an evil force is shadowing her
too, waiting for just the right moment to strike. She feels like
she’s going crazy. Is it all a coincidence—or has
Jessie’s killer finally returned to finish what was started all
those years ago?
— ◊ —
— ◊ —
Wicked Game
Non-series
Lisa Jackson
and Nancy Bush
Zebra (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-4201-0338-5 (1420103385)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4201-0338-0 (9781420103380)
Publication Date: February 2009
List Price: $7.99
— ◊ —
Review: A
collaborative effort of sisters, Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush, Wicked Game wanders in its
wickedness from a forensic cold case mystery to a steamy romance to a
novel of the paranormal with touches of Stephen King.
For several of St. Elizabeth’s alumni, their high school years in
Portland weren’t the happiest. For some there was bullying, for
others rejection, and for 16-year-old seer, Rebecca “Becca”
Sutcliff, now 34 years old and recently widowed, there was a
miscarriage in an “accidental” auto wreck. For her
16-year-old friend and a fellow seer, Jezebel “Jessie”
Brentwood, an adopted child with a reputation as a runaway, it was a
time of murder – her own. Her death is described in gripping
detail as her shadowy assailant stalks and viciously stabs her,
mouthing incantations of hate. Now, twenty years later, an excavation
on the St. Elizabeth’s campus reveals the contents of a makeshift
grave that brings out Sam “Mac” McNally, the detective
originally assigned to Jessie’s missing person’s case. This
time, however, he’s got to deal with an annoying female partner
as well as the same group of tight-knit, closed-mouthed friends of
Jessie’s from twenty years earlier, but now grown into middle
aged victims of a grim reaper. On the other hand, Mac now has help from
modern forensics, from Becca, who experiences visions of Jessie’s
spirit, and from another woman with psychic abilities, Renee Trudeau, a
reporter and the twin sister of Becca’s boyfriend, Hudson Walker,
who has recently re-entered Becca’s life. Mac needs all of the
science he can muster, plus every benefit of Becca’s and
Renee’s efforts as seers to divine what happened to Jessie. He
also needs to learn who or what is now decimating the St. E. alumni and
trying to kill Becca, her boyfriend, his sister, and an unborn child.
There’s lots of dirty linen for airing, too, what with the dark
details about Jessie’s family background as an adoptee, her
sexually taunting ways, Mac’s obsession with Jessie’s
death, the fatherhood of Becca’s first child, Becca’s
connections to Jessie, Hudson and others, including psychic Mad Maddie,
the surprising contents of the twenty-year-old gravesite, the
intertwining intrigues, misdemeanours – even felonies - in the
lives of the St. Elizabeth alumni, and the role that a mysterious cult
called “Siren Song” has to play with the primary characters.
Although the novel needs tightening, several scenes grab and hold the
reader’s attention. The car crashes, for example, are as good as
any, and a couple of stabbings are hair-raising. The love scenes are
tender but eventually become predictable in their passionate outcomes.
The characters are all credible, even Becca’s pet pooch Ringo.
Both the dialogue and the settings ring true, and the twisted mind of a
villain is well-depicted in the dialogue interjected both before and
after the perpetrator is revealed by the authors. From the Epilogue, it
appears the demon has another mission to fulfill, and plans are already
underway for the next steps in fulfilling it.
Special thanks to M. Wayne Cunningham (mw_cunningham@telus.net) for contributing his review of Wicked Game and to Nancy Berland Public Relations for providing of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2009 — M. Wayne Cunningham — All Rights Reserved — Reprinted with Permission
Have you read Wicked Game? How would you rate it?
Non-series novels by this author …
Wicked
Game
Zebra (Mass Market Paperback), February 2009
ISBN-10: 1-4201-0338-5 (1420103385)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4201-0338-0 (9781420103380)
Malice
Zebra (Mass Market Paperback), March 2010
ISBN-10: 0-82177940-0 (0821779400)
ISBN-13: 978-0-82177940-8 (9780821779408)
Without
Mercy
Kensington (Hardcover), April 2010
ISBN-10: 0-7582-2564-4 (0758225644)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7582-2564-1 (9780758225641)
Omnimystery keywords for Wicked Game ...
Location(s) referenced: Portland, Oregon.
