Never Fear

Starred review from May 1, 2006
Screenwriter Frost (Twin Peaks
; The X-Files
) brings back Lt. Alex Delillo, Pasadena supervisor of homicide, from his impressive debut, Run the Risk
, for another pulse-pounding, complex thriller in the tradition of Peter Straub's serial killer whodunit Blue Rose series. Delillo's father, Thomas Manning, a second-rate actor, walked out of her life decades ago, but she's still haunted by vague, menacing childhood memories of him. Her family issues resurface when her previously unknown half-brother surfaces dead, an apparent suicide, on the very site of the unsolved Los Angeles River killings that claimed the lives of three young women years before. To make matters worse, her darkest suspicions about her father are aroused when she learns that Manning was questioned extensively by LAPD in connection with the murders. When more dead bodies turn up, including that of a police detective, Delillo comes to believe that her father is still alive and still lethal. Frost's combination of psychological depth, complex plotting and an evocative, arid Los Angeles setting will have fans of intelligent suspense counting the days until his next book.