THE EYE OF ANNA

Enter once more the homicidal maniac, handled with chilling effect in the author's second outing (Death by Deception), its heavily menacing air intensified by time and place--Galveston, Texas, in the eye of a killer hurricane. Danny, the human killer, strikes down silver blondes, starting with Jean Weston, wife of neurosurgeon Richard, who had attended Danny's mother five years before in her fatal illness. Jean's murder is but a beginning, however, as ex-FBI agent, now Bayport Chief of Police Mark Shigeta and his right-hand deputy, Al Quinn, soon discover. Desperately struggling with roads turned into torrents, houses smashed to rubble, flying trees and nonexistent services, they fight to gather evidence as the body count grows--and as they realize that the killer is at large and headed for his final victims: Shigeta's daughter Gaff and Melissa, the woman he loves. The many graphic and gory descriptions of the murders may be a turnoff for some, but in Wingate's well-crafted, fast-paced narrative the hurricane has a presence nearly as malevolent as the killer's. Together they breathe new life into well-worn themes.