Please Don't Tell

May 6, 2013
Should a detective accompanying a serial killer’s most recent victim, who has been brutally raped and is barely breathing, try to hit on the ER doctor who may have just saved the victim’s life? Your response to this question may predict your reaction to this page-turner from bestseller Adler (A Place in the Country), which fuses effective if workmanlike suspense with occasionally cringe-worthy romance, set against backdrops ranging from storm-battered Big Sur to the back streets of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Their initial encounter notwithstanding, rugged SFPD Det. Brad Merlin and the spunky physician who catches his eye, Dr. Vivian Dexter, are among the most appealing figures in a thriller, some of whose main characters morph wildly to facilitate the plot. And then there are those characters you wish would change, like Dr. Dexter’s opinionated Aunt Fen, still an incurable romantic despite having married three times. Even after the white-knuckle climax, key questions remain unanswered, but you’ll know how to make Aunt Fen’s beef daube. Agent: Anne Sibbald, Janklow & Nesbit Associates.

February 15, 2013
One stormy night on the California coast, elegant 58-year-old Fenny Dexter opens her door to a blood-soaked man claiming to have been in an accident. He departs after a cozy night (they feel a spark), and Fenny later learns from her granddaughter, an ER doctor, that a man has come asking for her to stitch him up--even as a woman lies with her throat slashed, her mouth taped shut with a note saying, "Please Don't Tell." Is there a connection shaping up here, and what did mom say about strangers? Big promotion.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2013
If anyone can combine romance with a creepy CSI-style serial-killer plot, it's Adler (A Place in the Country, 2012). Her latest novel begins with a classic dark and stormy night that sets into motion a suspenseful story centered on Fen Dexter and her two adult daughters, distant relatives Vivi and JC. When Vivi, an ER doctor, treats the victim of an attempted murder, she, Fen, and JC become entangled with detective Brad Merlin, who's sweet on Vivi; Alex, a mystery man who turns up on Fen's doorstep and claims that his fianc'e's murder links her to Vivi's patient; and Ralph Sandowski, a colleague of Vivi's who consults with the police on the killer's motive. Adler ratchets up the stakes when it's revealed that the killer has set his sights on Vivi as his next mark. Though the psychopath's identity becomes obvious long before Adler exposes the villainher attempt to create a red herring proves ineffectivethe question of whether Detective Merlin will draw the same conclusion in time to save his new lady love will keep readers reading.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)