Tell Me No Secrets (49 page)

One of my favorite novels is Pat Conroy’s
The Prince of Tides
. I loved the sweep of it, the characters, the dialogue, everything. I didn’t want it to end. I also love almost all of Philip Roth’s books and Joan Didion’s
Play It as It Lays
. I find that I am often disappointed with suspense writers because they focus on plot rather than character and leave too many loose ends dangling.

I am a Canadian citizen and I live in Toronto, Canada, although I also have a home in Palm Beach, Florida, where my husband and I intend to spend an increasing amount of time. I also lived for almost three years in Los Angeles, and so I think I have a fairly American sensibility, although this is very much tempered by my Canadian upbringing. Since my books are sold all over the world and in almost every conceivable language, it strikes me increasingly that as long as one is writing about the basic human emotions we all share, then it doesn’t really matter where one is from. Surely one of the aims of art is to universalize experience. Interestingly, this is often accomplished by staking one’s work to as particular a time and place as possible. Generally, I set my books in big American cities, some of which I am familiar with, like those in Florida, and others which I learn through maps and occasional visits—like Boston and Chicago. The American landscape seems best for my themes of urban alienation and loss of identity. I am much more interested in the landscape of the soul.

It’s harder to come up with what the characters do for a living, because as a writer, I don’t always have a very clear idea what it is that other people actually do. So I’ve tended to give my main characters professions that I do understand—teacher, bank teller, housewife, etc. I had to do an enormous amount of research for the character of Jess Koster in
Tell Me No Secrets
because I had no idea what an assistant state’s attorney actually did. This is probably why most of my books deal more with domestic horror than the world of business. But who knows, I’m always on the lookout for good ideas.

Welcome to Torrance, Florida. Population: 4,160. As Sheriff John Weber would attest, the deadliest predators to date in his tiny hamlet were the alligators lurking in the nearby swamps. But that was before someone abducted and murdered a runaway teenage girl … and before the disappearance of popular and pretty Liana Martin. The pattern is chilling to Sandy Crosbie, the town’s new high school English teacher. With a marriage on the rocks, thanks to her husband’s online affairs, and a beautiful teenage daughter to protect, Sandy wishes she’d never come to the seemingly quiet town with shocking depths of scandal, sex, and brutality roiling beneath its surface. And as Sheriff Weber digs up more questions than answers in a dead-end investigation, one truth emerges: the prettiest ones—the heartstoppers—are being targeted. And this killer intends to give them their due. …

SEAL BOOKS / ISBN: 978-1-4000-2505-3

After spending a year in prison, Ralph has explicit plans for his first night of freedom: tonight, someone will be held accountable. He goes to murderous lengths to learn the address of his former wife—the woman he blames for his fate, and has sworn vengeance against. Determined to bring her to his idea of justice, Ralph’s next step is to travel from Florida to Ohio to find his ex-wife’s house on Mad River Road.

Also in Florida, Jamie Kellogg wakes from an agonizing nightmare of her mother’s funeral, and assesses her life: a twenty-nine-year-old woman in a dead-end job, with an ex-husband in Atlanta, a married lover in the hospital, and a virtual stranger in her bed. But this stranger is everything the previous men in her life weren’t: tender, attentive and adventurous. After convincing Jamie to quit her miserable job and ditch her judgmental, perfectionist sister, Ralph proposes a romantic getaway. While Jamie wonders if this thrilling man might finally be her Prince Charming, they plan a road trip to visit his son, who lives with his mother on a street called Mad River Road ….

SEAL BOOKS / ISBN: 978-0-7704-2959-I

Jane Whittaker finds herself on a downtown street, her pockets stuffed with a large number of crisp $100 bills, the front of her dress soaked with blood. She has no idea of her identity.

After a terrifying night of hiding, Jane ends up in hospital. There, while undergoing a battery of medical tests, she is recognized by one of the nurses. Soon her husband comes to claim her. He is every woman’s dream: popular, respected, wealthy, a tall, blond doctor. He takes Jane home and vows to cure her with loving care and modern medicine.

But Jane doesn’t get any better. The medication seems to be turing her into a zombie, and she begins to feel that her private nurse is holding her a virtual prisoner in her own home, isolating her from friends who might help her recover. Can Jane remember her past in time … in time to stop whatever it is that is happening to her, whatever made her lose her memory in the first place, whatever is trying to destroy her and her family?

SEAL BOOKS / ISBN: 978-0-7704-2985-0

Losing Julia has become a constant in Cindy Carver’s life. The first time Julia disappeared, she was five years old and vanished at the playground. That inspired motherly paranoia. The second was when, at age fourteen, Julia decided to move in with her father. That broke Cindy’s heart. But when twenty-one-year-old Julia disappears without a trace after a promising audition with one of Hollywood’s most powerful and influential directors, Cindy begins a frantic search. Secrets are revealed, lives are forever altered, and Cindy is forced to acknowledge the disturbing truth about the young woman she realizes she never really knew. …

SEAL BOOKS / ISBN: 978-0-7704-2920-I

Amanda Travis is a beautiful twenty-eight-year-old criminal attorney who wins just about every case for her less than admirable clientele. She races through her glamorous life, her only concerns being herself, a good bottle of red, and her pristine Palm Beach condo. Her estranged mother, dead father, two ex-husbands, and countless one-night stands have since lagged far, far behind.

But when ex #1 won’t stop calling, Amanda finally gives in and learns that her mother has shot a man in the lobby of Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel. Despite her best arguments, Amanda knows she must return to her hometown to face her demons and uncover the truth about the dark, strange power her mother seems to hold over everyone. Her childhood nickname, Puppet, echoing in her ears, Amanda must finally confront the past and learn to stand on her own.

SEAL BOOKS / ISBN: 978-0-7704-2958-4

Joanne Hunter’s secure suburban world is falling apart. Her husband’s desertion after twenty years of marriage leaves her stunned. Eve, her best friend, is strangely distant. Her grandfather, who has been a pillar of strength and support, lies ill and helpless in a nursing home. Lana and Robin, her teenage daughters, claim every ounce of her energy and devotion and all the love she feels she has lost.

Only one person seems to care—a stranger with a rasping voice, a tormentor with a vicious mind. Danger and despair close in with each ring of the telephone. Each deadly message lures her inexorably towards the deep end …

SEAL BOOKS / ISBN: 978-0-7704-3012-2