Vicious
Deftly woven plot twists save bestseller O'Brien's latest serial killer novel from predictability. The Mama's Boy killer spent two years kidnapping Seattle mothers and murdering them in front of their young sons; then he dropped off the radar for a decade. Widowed Susan Blanchette is on her way to Cullen, Wash., for an idyllic weekend with her toddler, Matthew, and her fiancé, Allen; high school students Jordan (whose mother was a Mama's Boy victim), Leo, and Moira are headed there as well, to celebrate Leo's birthday. When Jordan meets Allen, he thinks he recognizes his mother's killer, but if Allen is Mama's Boy, who just kidnapped Moira? While the pace of the novel is strong and the story intriguing, O'Brien (Final Breath) tries too hard to manipulate readers with implausible character actions, over-the-top emotions, and unnecessary obfuscations.(June)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.