Friday, August 6, 2010

The Remains, by Vincent Zandri


As young girls, Rebecca and her sister Molly lived through a nightmare abduction, held captive by a madman for three agonizing hours. They only barely escaped. For thirty years they kept this to themselves, a secret bond between sisters, until Molly died of cancer. Now, Rebecca carries the burden by herself.
But the nightmare isn’t over. When she begins getting threatening texts and messages, Rebecca learns that the madman who tormented her and her sister is free, and looking to clear up unfinished business.
The Remains is another fast-paced thriller from Zandri, but remarkable in that it’s told mostly from a female perspective. I’ve gotten accustomed to the sensitive tough guys that usually populate Zandri’s books, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him work so convincingly around a woman protagonist. Rebecca is a great character, fully formed and believable, and as the tension mounts and the story hurtles head-long toward a stunning climax, you’re with her one-hundred percent.
The villain in The Remains is chilling and Zandri ratchets up the suspense like the old pro he is. I’d like to see him experiment even more with these remarkable new points of view.

2 comments:

  1. Hi! Heath Lowrance...
    This seems like a book that I would place on my Shelfari, Goodreads, and LibraryThing "shelves" in hopes that it ends up in my shopping cart.
    What a very detailed critique of [Vincent] Zandri's book "The Remains."

    Lowrance said,"I’ve gotten accustomed to the sensitive tough guys that usually populate Zandri’s books, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him work so convincingly around a woman protagonist. Rebecca is a great character, fully formed and believable, and as the tension mounts and the story hurtles head-long toward a stunning climax, you’re with her one-hundred percent."

    Your words here are "music" to my "ears" being a female and knowing that in the "world" of mystery writers some central character(s) are "usually" male protagonist(s) and antagonist(s) with females portrayed in a minor roles in mystery novels.
    (Well, sometimes, but not all the time.)
    Thanks, for sharing!
    DeeDee ;-D
    Cont...

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  2. Thanks again for your comments, DeeDee-- and btw, I really like your blog on film noir... great stuff!

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