AT RISK

Author: Judith E. French ISBN: 0843953942 6/2005 SUSPENSE Publisher: DORCHESTER/Leisure

The Game Master He had a memento from each of them—the Sophomore, the Wife, the Nurse. Just little things to bring back memories of the shrieks, the blood. What would he take from the Professor, he wondered? She would be best of all, isolated far from campus in her old farmhouse by the edge of the swamp. She had no idea which of the men pursuing her she could trust—the handsome grad student, the bad-boy ex-boyfriend, the wheelchair-bound former police officer. She had no idea that while she fantasized about sultry nights and twisted sheets, very different plans were being made and studied in intimate detail. Though her student had been brutally murdered, she had no idea she was at risk. But all that was about to change.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

When I finished the last page of AT RISK, I closed the book and laid my hand over the cover mulling over my reaction to this romantic suspense. Or maybe the laying on of the hand was in reverence to a job well-done. Then again, maybe I was seeking some inspiration through osmosis. Because I knew—I just knew—this review was going to be a difficult one to write.

Why would a story I find inspired and riveting be hard to review? Well, for one thing, AT RISK is unique in that the male lead character (as in hero) is not identified until the end of the story. Secondly, one event in the story connects to so many events—a snowball effect, if you will—I don't want to say too much about either the male characters or any one aspect of the story for fear of giving too much away.

So here goes maybe my not-so-best shot. The suspense in AT RISK is top notch. The prologue is a guaranteed attention grabber as Ms. French's heroine Liz Clarke, a professor at a small private college in Dover, Delaware, finds the body of a murdered student in her office.

The remainder of AT RISK is a real page turner, too. After Liz finds the murdered student, things go further downhill in her world. Liz has a stalker after her and her pleas for help to the Delaware state police go ignored (this indifference is explained at the end of the book).

Liz is the focus of Ms. French's story and the only character (besides the serial killer) with any real depth. She's tough, gutsy, fiercely independent—just the sort of female character needed to carry this story. Most of the male characters are shadowy because most of the them are murder as well as stalker suspects.

Amid the murder and the stalker mayhem, there is also a serial killer hunting around Dover. A killer who apparently has been at work, and who has gone undetected, for years. Only the reader is aware of this serial killer's existence as well as being privy to how this killer disposes of the bodies, keeping some special bone for later fondling and nibbling pleasures.

As exceptional as the suspense is in AT RISK, the romance is, well, fragile. Aside from several heated love scenes, Liz spends little time with any of the male characters for the reader to feel any romantic connection. There are no real signs of affection and no declarations of love. While Ms. French kept her male characters underdeveloped for her suspense purposes, her approach left the romance limping along.

Even with the lopsided suspense and romance, AT RISK flows nicely. In spite of the lackluster romance, this story is pretty darn fabulous.

All in all, AT RISK is a gritty, realistic read. All elements in the story—the murder, the stalker, the serial killer, the romance—come together smoothly in the explosive ending.

Debbie Jett