nightwind_kaththea

Devil Creek it was called, after an apochryphal massacre in the long distant past, but to Robin Curtis and her twelve year old son Paul, it was a new beginning, far from the smut and hazards of Chicago. Far also from her ruthless and abusive husband. And, though Robin has a certain caution regarding Mike Landware, her novel-writing next door neighbor, she feels she's made the right move for both of them. She loves the house and her landlady, she enjoys her teaching job, and Paul is making new friends. If the occasional frisson of dread shudders down her spine, if the odd dream wakes her in a cold sweat, if her husband's threatening phone calls cut up her peace, still she is not unhappy with their relocation. But small-town comfort tatters when the local bad boy goes on a shooting rampage, and frays worse when a serial killer begins preying on Devil Creek's women. And when she finds her landlady mirroring one of her disturbing dreams, it becomes an outright nightmare.

A mighty evil, says the reclusive shaman Grey Wolf, is gathering over Devil Creek, but he knows no more than that. Nor does anyone else, but Mike cannot believe coincidence is any part of the misfortune plaguing Devil Creek's citizens. As the dying continues, and the townspeople begin to regard one another with angry suspicion, Mike becomes increasingly troubled, but still with no closer to the who, the how, or the why of all the violence in an isolated village previously noted for little more than its occasional drunk. Then Paul and a buddy disappear from a video-game outing, and buddy, and it becomes personal. Robin turns to Mike for company, and for help when she cannot just sit and wait for the searchers to begin. But will they find her beloved son alive or dead? Has he merely gotten lost while exploring, or has he fallen afoul of the evil which seems to have battened on Devil Creek? And will they find the cause of the escalating mayhem? Moreover, can they stop it?

Swift-paced and briskly styled, Mr. Mertz's narrative rushes us from the first shadow to the final denouement in fine style. Ordinary as the narrative begins, the author builds the suspense bit by bit, through hints and oddities, until the first murder, from which he launches us on a wild ride of escalating skullduggery and betrayal. The characters are well delineated, the situation well considered, the villain chilling in the extreme, and all too believable. Nice, too, is the tension between Mike and Grey Wolf's grandson, who have more in common than they have differences, and the soft glide of Robin's and Mike's growing attraction. It is not precisely a thoughtful piece, but it is one which does exactly what it set out to do, and does it well. If you are looking for high flights of romantic fancy, you won't find it here, but you will find a taut and finely tuned tale of suspense, with just a trace of the paranormal. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Reviewed by KATHTHEA
August 2002

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NIGHT WIND
Stephen Mertz
ISBN 0-7862-4353-8
September 2002
Five Star Publishing
Suspense
Hardcover