Assessment:
Plot/Idea: In the successful sequel to Killer Motives, Traymore delivers a well-plotted mystery that provides depth through exploration of relationship dynamics, betrayals, and emotional upheavals. Though there are a number of unexpected developments and twists throughout, the work may benefit from some additional tension and buildup to the reveal of the culprit. Readers will benefit from having read the first title in the series, though Traymore establishes the previous circumstances for new readers.
Prose: The prose is solidly constructed and highly readable.
Originality: Traymore develops a unique and intriguing premise through the focus on a serial stalker. Perhaps most compelling are the relationships at the story's center and the emotional impact of the characters' struggles.
Character/Execution: The two female protagonists are clearly portrayed, with Victoria emerging as the more complex and nuanced of the pair. Side characters provide texture and additional narrative substance.
Date Submitted: April 08, 2023
Traymore’s suspenseful mystery novel, the second in a series, pits one stalker against another.
Victoria Mancusio’s life is at a precarious pass. After her husband, Nick, had an affair and faced a murder trial (he was acquitted), the marriage bond is very tenuous. The national publicity of the trial drew the attention of former art professor Timothy Sutton, a sexual predator who attacked Victoria when she was an undergraduate. She fought him off, and he was even forced out of his university position. So now, 10 years later, this narcissist may be out for revenge (he’s sending Victoria threatening texts), and he knows where she lives. She flies from her art gallery in New York to Arizona, deducing that he might be there. Indeed, she spots him and also finds and enlists Jenna Williams, another woman who survived his attacks, as a reluctant ally in trying to get this menace off the streets. Victoria is also attracted to hunky Scottsdale Police Department detective Randy Ramirez. Sutton winds up in “ankle monitor” custody but cuts it off and slips away, whereabouts unknown; likewise, Jenna, whom Victoria had bankrolled to move east, takes off. Now it’s cat and mouse, with Sutton and Victoria each both the cat and the mouse, leading to a surprising and violent conclusion. Traymore is a very competent writer (“There was enough guilt in this family to fill purgatory”) and very good with plotting and suspense. Another strong element is that everyone—even the good guys—harbors secrets. It began with Nick’s infidelity and is echoed in the flirtation between Victoria and Randy. And those are just a few examples. For the very best reasons (she tells herself), Victoria is playing it close to the vest, while Nick finally admits that he was not totally truthful about certain details, even after he confessed to the infidelity. There is even a grace note of deception, as it were: Victoria may have been the result of her mother’s early-on extramarital dalliance. The novel reads like a primer on tangled webs, and Traymore is clearly having fun with it.
A well-plotted mystery to curl up with.
