Storm Warning

April 9, 2001
In 1979, seven girls attended a class for gifted students at a Manhattan private school. That same year a lightning bolt burned the school down, destroying all of its records; the girls themselves remember nothing of the class's contents or its instructor. Twenty years later, each of the young women receives a single phone call that causes them to slip into a hypnotic trance and commit suicide, oblivious to warnings or pleas. Only St. Louis reporter Virginia Shapiro discovers the threat in time and flees her home to avoid the mysteriously compelling call. Eventually, she is joined by off-duty FBI agent Sullivan Dean, a close friend of one of the victims. The two battle perils on the road and then their equally intense attraction at a remote safe house where they wait while the FBI clumsily attempts to solve the case. Meanwhile, Nobel-winning doctor Emile Karnoff, who unbeknownst to the world was the class's teacher, continues to heal illness with hypnosis as his disturbed son disintegrates and his wife keeps life tidy in increasingly peculiar ways. Neither the book's medical nor its investigative details ring true, and a surprising denouement leaves many questions unanswered. Despite its novel premise, McCall's (The Return) lackluster thriller fails to develop full characters or a credible plot line.

May 15, 2001
In the space of a few weeks, six of Ginny Shapiro's grade-school friends have committed suicide even Sister Mary Theresa, who wrote to tell her of the deaths and knew that killing herself was a mortal sin. Having learned that a phone call somehow triggers these so-called suicides, Ginny is running for her life, with FBI agent Sullivan Dean a friend of Sister Mary's brother in hot pursuit, determined to save her. Intense, fast-paced, and cleverly crafted, this engrossing tale deals with some of the darker aspects of hypnosis and human nature and will appeal to those who like their contemporary romances on the chilling side. McCall (The Return) also writes under her own name, Sharon Sala, and lives in Oklahoma.

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.