Madeline Hewitson isn't called Mad Maddie for nothing. She's survived a college dorm massacre and the murder of a lover (of which she has been accused), and she claims to be stalked by a killer only she can see. She also manages to drive her car straight through the front wall of the shuttered house where veteran Jacob Denisov sits, contemplating suicide. Jacob identifies with Maddie's craziness—and begins to suspect that she's trapped in someone's sticky web.

Surviving the dorm massacre of her friends and later the accusation that she'd killed her fiancé, horror writer and artist Madeline Hewitson has fled to Virtue Falls, WA, but is still haunted by guilt and a stalker no one else can see. Jacob Denisov is a war hero suffering from survivor's guilt and PTSD. He is waiting for the courage to end it all when Maddie accidentally drives her car into his house and turns everything upside down for them both. Returning series characters (Sheriff Kateri Kwinault is a favorite) add continuity and insight to a twisted plot that will keep fans on edge, if not in doubt of the villain's identity, for the duration. VERDICT Two emotionally damaged characters find hope, self-forgiveness, and love in this exquisitely crafted, modern version of Gaslight that hooks readers and keeps them mesmerized until the end. A chilling and gripping tale, beautifully done. Dodd (Obsession Falls) lives in Washington State.

In Dodd's intriguing third Virtue Falls contemporary romance (after Obsession Falls), traumatized and disreputable Madeline Hewitson is the author of bestselling thrillers—but they are published under a pseudonym, and her brother, Andrew, is the public face of the author. Maddie's fear-driven inspiration began when she was the sole survivor of a mass killing while she was a college student; later, two years before her move to Virtue Falls, Wash., she was cleared of suspicion in the unsolved murder of her lover, Easton. Text messages interspersed throughout the narrative reveal that someone is committed to keeping her "afraid, insane, malleable." Military veteran Jacob Denisov endeavors to make his home across the street from Maddie's into a refuge from the torment of events he and his team suffered in North Korea; when an exhausted Maddie accidentally drives into his front wall, she smashes through his literal and emotional barricades. An engaging cast of Virtue Falls locals adds depth and multiple subplots as the mysteries around Maddie reach unsatisfactory resolutions. Agent: Mel Berger, William Morris Endeavor. (Sept.)