Lying with Strangers » (Reprint)

As the old cliché goes, write what you know. Former lawyer James Grippando has certainly taken this bit of wisdom to heart with his mega-successful courtroom thrillers, many of them starring Miami defense attorney Jack Swyteck. Time and again, this bestselling author has proven that he not only knows the law but he knows how to conjure an expertly paced tale of suspense.

Peyton Shields had always wanted to be a doctor, and now, thanks to her relentless drive, stellar academic credentials, and a mountain of debt to Harvard Medical School, she's a first-year resident at a major Boston children's hospital. The hours are impossibly long but it's the life she wants, complete with a husband who's an up-and-coming young lawyer.

But a late-night drive home in a heavy snowstorm changes everything. A car coming straight at her drives her off the road and into a frozen pond. Peyton knows she'd be dead if a stranger hadn't pulled her from the wreckage before vanishing into the darkness. In an instant her wonderful life has turned dark. No one believes her claims that the "accident" was deliberate—not even her husband. Without explanation, he has become distant and bitter, calling her paranoid and accusing her of having an affair with a former lover.

Yet the terror has only begun, for a series of strange, increasingly dangerous events begin to plague Peyton, moving her closer to a faceless and very deadly enemy who seems to know her every move.

Publishers Weekly

Beautiful doctor Peyton Shields, head resident at Boston's Children's Hospital, and handsome lawyer husband Kevin Stokes would appear to have bright futures at the start of Grippando's stand-alone, which falls short of the standard of the author's Jack Swyteck series (When Darkness Falls, etc.). Mutual suspicions of infidelity and the fundamental failure of either partner to trust the other pave the way for the misunderstandings that make Peyton and Kevin ripe pickings for a psycho obsessed with Peyton. First Peyton nearly dies during a snowy accident that only she believes was deliberate. Then she and Kevin are ensnared in a web of escalating circumstances that drive them further apart. The soap opera plot will disappoint those expecting something meatier, and even the two lead characters play stock roles (the strong, independent woman; the dissatisfied, jealous husband). The result is a thriller that doesn't offer many thrills, even when Grippando takes the wraps off some late surprises. This title was first released in 2006 by Bookspan as a Madison Park Press book club exclusive. (May)