NINE LIVES

A wordprocessed list of nine names, nothing else, is mailed to nine different people across the US. They do not know each other. Some are uneasy, others shrug it off, and all continue with their daily routines. Then Frank goes to the seashore to escape his demons, and finds he has to confront them in terror as he is dragged to his death by drowning. Matthew has a difficult marriage and problem children but one evening he kisses his neighbour Michelle and suddenly life seems better. A few minutes later he is shot accurately between the shoulder blades. Arthur is mourning the recent death of his husband Richard and succumbs easily to a canister of carbon monoxide. Meanwhile the last person on the alphabetical list is Jessica Winslow, an FBI agent, who is on the alert when she hears of the first death and starts investigating, tracking down those on the list and ringing up to warn them. Talking to her father, Jessica realises there may be a connection between the apparently random victims through the older generation. But then her colleague and former lover Aaron persuades her to go into hiding. Meanwhile Jack is getting to know his neighbour Margaret, Jay is stalking a new young blonde woman he spotted in the street, and Alison is stunned by the news that the wife of her much-older lover has left him and he is now free. Detective Sam Hamilton is on the case and as the net tightens it becomes clear that the murderer will take out the whole list. But who, and why? 320pp.