Creep

May 9, 2011
In Hillier's agreeably frightening debut, a psychological thriller, beautiful Sheila Tao, a highly regarded professor of social psychology at Seattle's Puget Sound University, has been having an affair with her volatile teaching assistant, Ethan Wolfe. Sheila, who's spent three years in Sex Addicts Anonymous, a fact known only to her trusted therapist, wishes to end the affair since she's about to marry Morris Gardener, a successful Texas financier who's deeply jealous. Ethan, however, has his own plans for Sheila and uses his considerable talents, which include raising the art of disguise to new levels, to carry them out. When Sheila suddenly disappears, Morris, rebuffed by the skeptical police, hires an equally skeptical PI to hunt her down. While unlikely coincidences abound (a stolen cuff link conveniently turns up) and the characters distinctly lack any redeeming spark, the book holds its secrets well and packs a concluding wallop.

May 15, 2011

When psychology professor Sheila Tao decides to break off an affair with one of her graduate students because of a growing relationship with another man, she discovers that her student is unbalanced. As his threatening behavior escalates, Sheila finds herself, along with her friends and family, in real danger. Although there are some rough spots in this debut thriller--the subplot about a murdered student is clunky, Sheila's sex addiction seems mostly unnecessary, and the killer attacks the private investigator with a knife but conveniently misses any major arteries--first novelist Hillier succeeds in building suspense and piling up nail-biting twists and turns for the reader. The ending indicates a possible sequel, but even if Sheila Tao doesn't return, Hillier will likely have best sellers in the future thanks to her suspenseful plotting and solid character development. VERDICT This fast-paced page-turner will keep fans of Lisa Gardner and Chelsea Cain guessing.--Beth Blakesley, Washington State Univ. Libs., Pullman

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