NEVER WALK BEHIND ME

A chilling story of horrific revelations in which the clever but temper-prone Rowena recounts life with her young sister Margaret at the Farradays, the family who adopted the two sisters after their parents died in a car crash. When her beloved stepbrother Simon returns from Germany with fiancÇe Magda in tow, Rowena's jealousy runs amok, leading her stepmother to mutter grimly, ``You're just like your mother.'' Later, as more troubles ensue (attempted poisonings; the smothering of Simon and Magda's newborn by Rowena's cat), this statement is repeated so often that Rowena begins to feel tainted—as well she might: her mother's instability led her to murder. Soon Rowena is hearing voices (``Rowena, I'm your mother and I'm dying....'') and wondering whether she blacked out about causing the death of Simon's best friend; about letting her cat into the baby's room; and—worst of all—about planning the car accident that resulted in the death of Simon and Dr. Farraday.... Despite a slightly melodramatic end, Summerfield again (Count the Days, 1991) offers a mesmerizing story, here with psychological portraits (of a mother in postpartum depression; a grief-maddened father) that are unflinchingly painful.