Heartstopper
A Town Living in Fear and a Killer on the Loose ...
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4.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
'Those familiar with Patricia Highsmith's particular brand of sinister storytelling will recognize the mayhem Fielding so cunningly unleashes' Publishers Weekly
Torrance, Florida. Population: 4,160. A safe place where residents feel comfortable leaving their doors unlocked and allowing their children to run freely. It's here that high school English teacher Sandy Crosbie is establishing a new life for herself and her teenage children, following the painful and very public breakdown of her marriage.
But when the body of the most popular girl at Torrance High is found buried in a shallow, swampy grave, everyone in the cosy community becomes a suspect. Suddenly it seems that everyone has something to hide. A down-on-his-luck sheriff must wade through the murkier depths of smalltown secrets to determine who the killer is. And when the body count rises to three, Sandy Crosbie must do everything in her power to help protect her family and target the attacker before it's too late.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bestseller Fielding (Mad River Road) delivers another dependably entertaining thriller. When Sandy Crosbie and her physician husband, Ian, move to Torrance, Fla. (pop. 4,160), from Rochester, N.Y., to make a new start, Sandy quickly discovers that the real new start is Ian's affair with "Barbie clone" Kerri Franklin, whom he met on an Internet chat line. Sandy, who's irritatingly docile about being deserted, trudges forward, getting a job teaching at the local high school and keeping an eye on her two teenage children, Megan and Tim. The author convincingly portrays the Crosbie siblings and other students, while examining in more depth than some readers might prefer teenage angst and puppy love. A popular girl, Liana Martin, disappears and her body later turns up in a swamp. Amid the offstage drama of the school play rehearsals, Sandy's painful blind date and Ian's affair, tension builds and cracks appear within and among local residents. Every few chapters, the anonymous killer offers an entry, which adds to the suspense, though the generous time spent with our mystery villain takes some of the kick out of the ending.
