A first novel that features familiar figures and situations but
analyzes them with intense psychological understanding and moments
of real literary flair. Yes, it's the return of the serial killer
going one-on-one with a female shrink specializing in the habits
and behavior of mass murderers. This serial bloodletter turns out
to be quite possibly the world's top nut, with some 130 dead
victims hidden in a cave. Meanwhile, Dr. Helen Myrer, a widow in
her late 40s, has been fighting Albany over massive cuts in aid for
the mentally ill. Having three weeks free, she goes to an isolated
cabin in the New Hampshire woods. As she enters, she confronts a
figure in a stocking mask, holding a knife, waiting in the pantry,
and things pretty much go downhill from there. The mass murderer
turns out to be her neighbor in the woods, Kevin McCallum. There
is, of course, an obligatory flight sequence through that cave of
corpses, serving as the novel's extended climax. During an interim
of torture and terror, we receive material about Helen's family
that proves even more interesting than her present plight. Using
her training, the naked Helen tries to enter the mind of her
attacker and persuade him that she can help him overcome his
various triggering traumas. But loathsome Kevin's unique symptoms
lie beyond the scope of her diagnostic and statistical manual: "For
the first time in her life she was beginning to entertain the
notion that evil could exist in a state that might in some way be
intractable to science." As he's chasing her through the cave,
Helen realizes that "this was the interior of the man, his
unconscious mind carved into the earth." Matthews comes up with the
spidery, slithery, squishy goods in a predictable but nonetheless
thrilling showdown. Nail-biting twists that challenge your jaw
muscles. (Kirkus Reviews)
An experienced clinical psychologist, Helen Myrer has been immersed
in the study of society's most troubled minds. She decides to leave
her high-pressure world for rest and rejuvenation at the isolated
cabin her late husband called the Old Secret, a place where she
once shared the magic of a wonderful marriage. But once she walks
into the little house in the New Hampshire woods, with Lake Glory
glinting down below, she will find no rest. Instead, this woman of
intelligence, strength, and success is about to enter a labyrinth
of the most terrifying order - a maze of human depravity that will
take her to the farthest reaches of her own courage and will to
survive.
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