Afraid »

Jack Kilborn is the pseudonym for a bestselling crime fiction writer who lives in a suburb of Chicago. www.jackkilborn.com

ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK? YOU WILL BE . . .


Welcome to Safe Haven, Wisconsin. Miles from everything, with one road in and out, this peaceful town has never needed a full-time police force. Until now . . .


A helicopter has crashed near Safe Haven and unleashed something horrifying. Now this merciless force is about to do what it does best. Isolate. Terrorize. Annihilate. As residents begin dying in a storm of gory violence, Safe Haven's only chance for survival will rest with an aging county sheriff, a firefighter, and a single mom. And each will have this harrowing thought: Maybe death hasn't come to their town by accident . . .

Publishers Weekly

On a September night in 1921, the silent film star Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle and friends were throwing a party at which a guest, Virginia Rappe, mysteriously died. Arbuckle was accused of Rappe's rape and murder, and Dashiell Hammett, then a Pinkerton detective, was hired to ferret out the truth. The tubercular Hammett managed to bring light to the case, much in the style of his later protagonists. Atkins refashions historical events into a compelling mystery, and Dick Hill creates excellent emphasis and stress through his tone and delivery. His male characters sound authentic, but female voices prove difficult for Hill, who relies on shrillness to convey femininity. A Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 9). (Apr.)