Present Day Dutton, Georgia, also Arcadia and Atlanta

Thirteen years ago, as common knowledge has it, Kathy Tremaine shot herself after her sixteen year-old daughter, Alicia, was found naked and dead in a ditch. Alicia's identical twin, Alexandra, then swallowed her mother's pills in a failed attempt at suicide. Her mother's live-in lover wanted to keep Alex with him and his own two children, but Aunt Kim and Uncle Steve Fallon carried her away, adopted her and took her into their hearts. Alex was happy with them, and her cousin Meredith became like another sister. If she sometimes hears screams in her sleep and is getting over a failed marriage, Alex Fallon still has a satisfying life as an emergency room nurse in Cincinnati . . . but then her past calls her back to Dutton.

Before the tragedy that changed her life, Alex, Alicia, and their "stepsister" Bailey Crighton were thick as thieves. Alex last saw Bailey five years ago when she came for a visit, high on drugs, and left with Alex's cash and credit cards. But now Alex gets a call from social services in Dutton to say that Bailey named her the emergency contact for her daughter. Alex arranges time off, flies to Georgia and her four year-old niece, Hope, of whom she'd been completely unaware until now. She meets a darling child who has obviously suffered a trauma; she doesn't speak, only colors in coloring books. Alex calls on her cousin -- Meredith is a pediatric psychologist -- for help with Hope while she tries to find Bailey. When the local law won't take Bailey's disappearance seriously, she hopes to enlist the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in the hunt.

The same day that Alex gets that fateful call, a body is dumped in a ditch near Arcadia -- a female, naked and dead. Special Agent Daniel Vartanian of the GBI becomes involved in the case and is shocked when the similarity with the long ago victim in Dutton is pointed out. Daniel grew up in Dutton and, though he was away at the time of Alicia's murder, he knows her face from a stack of lascivious photos of girls taken by his brother Simon -- Simon, the serial killer who murdered seventeen people, including their parents. Imagine his shock when an older version of Alicia's face walks into his office seeking help.

The present day killer is introduced in the first chapter, and we immediately know that he didn't kill Alicia, but by imitating that old killing, he stirs up the past...as if Alex's return alone were not enough to restart the old gossip. it also puts her in danger. The small town of Dutton, Georgia is rife with secrets, terrible secrets of things both past and present. How -- or if -- they are all connected makes for high drama and suspense. But mixed in with the awful are heartwarming passages and developing relationships. As can be imagined, both Alex and Daniel need healing; perhaps they will be good for each other.

A host of others add much to the overall plot and enjoyment of SCREAM FOR ME: Bailey, who cleaned up her act for her baby and was a good mother until she vanished; Meredith, who was such a help to Alex and Hope, and Daniel's friend Luke Papadopoulos and other co-workers at the GBI. Then, of course, there is the killer and various others with secrets they will do anything to keep from coming to light. Several people in SCREAM FOR ME I'd like to see again, mainly Meredith and Luke.

Many of Ms. Rose's books are connected. Daniel Vartanian appeared in DIE FOR ME, for instance, but both stand alone. SCREAM FOR ME is at once a riveting thriller and an emotional love story, equally as compelling for its multi-layered plot as for its intense characterization. SCREAM FOR ME is an excellent example of a book that deeply involves a reader in the story. It doesn't just tell what happens or how someone feels; the characters do the job through meaningful dialogue and action, with minimal narration. One feature handy in such a complex tale is the indication of the new location, date, and time when a scene changes.

If Karen Rose is new to you, I strongly recommend her to you as an author to start on right now. But if you are familiar with her work, you don't need me to urge you on. You've already added SCREAM FOR ME to your to-get list.

Jane Bowers