Reunion at Red Paint Bay
Actions—even those that are unintended or misunderstood—have consequences, as Simon Howe, owner and editor of the weekly newspaper in his hometown of Red Paint, Maine, is about to learn. With his twenty-fifth high-school reunion approaching, pillar-of-the-community Howe begins receiving anonymous postcards with cryptic and increasingly threatening messages. At the same time, a mysterious man turns up in town and begins stalking Howe’s family, sidling up to his 11-year-old son, Davey, at a carnival; spilling secrets to his therapist wife, Amy; even violating the sanctity of his home. The level of suspense and menace increases as the stalker’s identity and purpose become clear, and Howe is forced to confront what he did on his graduation night and how those actions reverberated in the lives of others. Harrar tackles some big issues here, notably vengeance, guilt, and absolution, with the underlying question of when sex becomes rape. But messages aside, this is tightly written psychological suspense from the author of The Spinning Man (2003). Harrar is one of those writers on the verge of connecting with a much larger audience; this could be his moment. --Michele Leber