"This brilliant thriller is brimful of emotion and suspense"

Imagine your worst nightmare coming to life. For three rape victims, the nightmare continues long after the attacker has slipped back into the night. Three women band together and are notably called the Survivor's Club.

Jillian Hayes is the cool and collected leader of the group. Carol Rosen, a middle-aged wife of a lawyer and Meg Pesaturo, the 20-something college student, and youngest of all the survivors of this horrendous attack. The three ladies played an intricate part in the capture of Eddie Como, the College Hill rapist, which places them in the public spotlight thanks to the media. Each woman copes in their own unique way after the attacks, and months after as the trial nears.

Roan Griffin, a tough Providence Detective returns to work after surviving his own hell on earth. His first day back he is thrown into the murder investigation of said rapist Eddie Como, who is shot down while being escorted into the courthouse on the first day of his trial. As the investigation continues Roan comes face to face with Jillian, a woman who has suffered a horror not unlike Roan's. Could Jillian or any of the other victims or their families have a part in the murders of Eddie and his killer?

The investigation soon spirals into many directions. The victims become the accused, as they are now prime suspects in the assassination of their accused attacker. The accused becomes a victim in the diabolical plan of a killer so cunning, he makes Jeffrey Dahlmer look like a Boy Scout. Just when they think they are on the right track to catching the killer, another attack on a woman is reported. This sends the investigation in a totally new direction, pitting Roan against his most chilling adversary, leading to a heart-stopping climax.

Lisa Gardner, master of characterization and plot, has woven an intricate tale of rape, murder, revenge and survival. This story has a menagerie of complex, fallible, engaging make believe characters so startlingly vivid, you will remember them forever. This is a chilling, spine-tingling, edge of your seat read. A guaranteed page-turner that will keep you up all night. The dialogue is smooth, flowing like liquid gold and the point of view of each character is masterfully done, giving you a glimpse of what each is going through during the course of the novel.

Gardner is the grand mistress of storytelling. Not only are her books amazingly detailed and electrifying, they capture the essence of each and every character we are introduced to, whether they are central or secondary in nature. Brimful of emotion and suspense, this brilliant thriller is a definite must for your library and will leave you wanting more.

(C) 2002 Janice K. Wagner

Reviewed by Janice Wagner
Posted May 19, 2002

Summary

One of today's most electrifying suspense novelists, New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner returns with a shattering thriller that dares to play on our deepest vulnerabilities. In this masterful new novel, the killer may very well be the one you sympathize with the most.... THE FIRST RULE IS NEVER BLAME THE VICTIM. They survived what no woman should ever have to endure. Now these three women have the means, the opportunity, and the perfect motive. Are they trying to get away with murder--or is someone trying to make sure that this time they don't get away at all? The Survivors Club. . .that's what Jillian Hayes, Carol Rosen, and Meg Pesaturo call it. They won't consider themselves victims. They are survivors. They faced the blazing headlines and helped lead the investigation that caught the man who changed their lives forever. And now that Eddie Como, the College Hill rapist, has been murdered, shot down outside a packed courthouse moments before his trial was about to begin, all three women are openly ecstatic that he's dead. They are also the prime suspects in his murder. Detective Sergeant Roan Griffin knows all too well what can drive even the best people to cross the line. But he has never seen a case quite like this one. No one doubts that the murder of Eddie Como was a professional job, especially when the gunman is killed only blocks away from the shooting. But questions taunt Griffin: Who ordered the deaths of Eddie Como and his killer? Could three ordinary women have been driven to do he unthinkable? Had someone in the Survivors Club become a killer? Griffin seeks the truth-- and finds himself confronted with the leader of the Survivors Club. Jillian Hayes is beautiful, successful, cool as ice, and she harbors a pain that mirrors Griffin's own. Did the horror of what happened to her push her over the thin and desperate line that separates survival and revenge? And if it did, could he blame her--or anyone in the Survivors Club? Then another woman is brutally attacked. Suddenly, with the city on the ragged edge of panic, gripped in a media and political firestorm of controversy, cover-up, and conspiracy, the hunt is on for a ruthless and cunning killer. For Griffin, this may well be the case that shatters his career. For Jillian, the harrowing nightmare is beginning all over again. Someone is out there. Someone who wants to finish what was started. Someone who wants to make sure that no one survives the Survivors Club.