The Survivors Club

When Eddie Como, the "College Hill Rapist," is shot dead at the courthouse, suspicion immediately falls on his three living victims, the Survivor's Club. They have pushed publicly for police action and Como's arrest. Then another girl is raped and murdered. DNA at the scene belongs to the deceased Como. Now what? Anna Fields's low-pitched voice and even delivery demand serious attention, as do the Survivors themselves. She gives Megan youth, Carol frailty, and Jillian moxie. The police are appropriately gruff. It's the minor characters, however, who shine the brightest, especially Como's fiery Hispanic girlfriend. The solution is farfetched, but Fields's fine performance makes it palatable. J.B.G. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

May 1, 2002
One cannot read this excellent new novel by bestselling author Gardner (The Next Accident) without wondering what actors might play these characters, especially the detectives. (Russell Crowe in his Bud White mode should star as Roan Griffin, and Dennis Franz seems a natural for the rumpled and sarcastic Fitz.) A sensitive but tough Rhode Island state police detective just returned from a bereavement leave (his beloved wife has died of cancer), Griffin encounters a hell of a case: a serial rapist, Eddie Como, is professionally hit in the courthouse parking lot, but whoever set up the kill doesn't want any loose ends: a car bomb results in an extra-crispy assassin. The prime suspects for this crime are Eddie's surviving victims: Jillian Hayes, who was beaten when she nearly caught the man after he raped her young sister, Trisha, who died; Carol Rosen, neglected wife of a successful attorney with a secret, who was raped in her own home; and the first victim, young Meg Pesaturo, who has mob ties but remembers nothing about the attack. But this is only the beginning of the case, for the rapist seems to rise from the dead to strike again and an old nemesis of Griffin's may have everything to do with it. The three-dimensional characterizations are compelling, and the plot barrels along with surprising new twists that feel inevitable once they occur. Though the plot doesn't jell until our hero meets his match in city cop Fitz, the book then rocks and rolls right up to a nail-biter ending coming perhaps a tad too quickly. Roan Griffin is a triumph: hurt, tightly wound, but holding it together and regaining his compassion and ability to reach out. And the grace-note minor characters"the wily nurse Toppi and Jillian's silent former singer mother, Libby"are gems. Gardner should hit the charts again with this one.

Jillian, Meg, and Carol were all victims of rape and sexual violence perpetrated by Eddie Como, who was assassinated on his way to trial. As they begin to celebrate, they realize they're suspects in the case, which is being relentlessly investigated by Detective Sergeant Roan Griffin. Then another woman is brutally raped and murdered, seemingly by the now dead Eddie Como. Becky Ann Baker performs with breathless precision at every turn. The investigation, the crimes, and the emotional states of the women are methodically described and effortlessly portrayed in Baker's warm voice. As the mystery begins to unravel, Baker cranks up the pace and the tension amid the web of crime. M.B.K. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine