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All I can say about Tim Miller, is that he only gets better. WITHOUT A TRACE was fantastic, especially if you like to be scared out of your skin. And OUT OF NOWHERE is every bit as fantastic. Mr. Miller takes a different approach in OUT OF NOWHERE. It isn't quite as scary, but it still puts you on the edge of your chair. I would say where WITHOUT A TRACE was definitely a 100 watt light bulb, six locks on the door experience, OUT OF NOWHERE is more of a four locks on the door story, but still 100 watt light bulb experience. And what an experience OUT OF NOWHERE is. Mr. Miller takes you on a ride with not one, but two serial killers. And what is even more intriguing is that these two serial killers are taking orders from someone else! Someone even more evil!! Reginald Spencer has more enemies than most people have acquaintances. Spencer owns Spencer's Enterprises, the largest manufacturer of cabinets in the Midwest. It is almost Christmas and Spencer has laid off over twenty thousand workers. His business has been losing money, and in order to save what he has left, he had no choice but to do this. Of course like Scrooge, that certainly didn't make him many friends. And it seems that perhaps one of these people must especially hate him, as they are out to destroy him completely. Spencer is receiving anonymous phone calls. Calls ordering him to do things that are sure to put the final shovel of dirt on his company's grave. He is being ordered to reinstate the workers that were laid off. If he doesn't do as he is told, he will suffer the consequences. And to show him that this person means what they are saying his son is murdered in a very unique, and in a very final fashion. When Aaron Spencer and his bodyguard are killed at the mall, of course the police were called in. Detective Jim Stanton of the Wright Valley Police Department, and his new partner Shelly McGuire get the case. Jim had just lost his wife, Laura, two weeks prior to a long bout of cancer. He was in no mood to have a female partner shoved onto him. But as he was soon to find out, Shelly wasn't just a female cop; she could handle him, as well as anything else thrown her way. When Jim and Shelly go to Spencer's home to ask questions about his son. Spencer's attorney, Gerald Thornton, meets them at the front door. Thornton wont let them past the threshold to talk to Spencer. Spencer is afraid if he talks to anyone, the next thing that will happen will be the death of his daughter, Cindy. Cindy has not been a part of his life for fifteen years, and he has no idea where she, or her mother, his ex-wife, even are. However the voice on the phone seems to know about Cindy and exactly where she is. The voice told him that if he didn't follow directions Cindy would die. The only person Spencer has confided in is Thornton. However now the police are involved, and if the voice finds this out, Cindy will die. Thornton is the only person that can help Spencer keep this from happening. Even after the death of his son, Spencer doesn't move fast enough for the voice on the phone. Two men, Cutter and Cooper, hired by the voice, grab a woman and take her to a rented house. Cindy had taken on the name Rachel Morris in order to hide from her father. But even so, Cutter and Cooper manage to find her. Cooper is a particularly vicious person, and loves to kill. In fact he cannot go for long before he has to kill. He takes particular enjoyment in torturing and killing Rachel/Cindy. Cutter kills because he has to. It doesn't bother him one way, or the other. It's a job to him. If someone gets on his nerves, which happens quite often and very fast, he kills them. But even he doesn't care for the way Cooper loves to torture and kill. After Spencer finds out that his family has been completely destroyed he decides that he is next. The voice keeps issuing orders, and Spencer just doesn't seem to act on them fast enough. That is when he decides he needs real help, and confides in Jim and Sherry. OUT OF NOWHERE builds suspense from the first page on. The story line is totally captivating as are the characters. Mr. Miller has built three-dimensional characters with personalities that literally jump from the pages. While Cutter and Cooper are very scary, despicable characters, Jim and Sherry are very human, and their bantering back and forth brings humor to a very dark situation. Mr. Miller builds suspicion for one character or another throughout the book. All of his characters interact in a very real fashion. So much so, that you actually have feelings for them. Some you will absolutely despise, some you will fear, and others you will come to feel very close to. But none of them will you be able to ignore. OUT OF NOWHERE is a suspense/thriller with a little humor and even some very light romance, all shrouded in a mystery that keeps you guessing until that very last page. OUT OF NOWHERE is an absolutely absorbing thriller that you will not be able to put aside until you figure out who the voice belongs to. And I do not think you can figure that out until the end. I didn't. And then you will laugh because it was there all the time. I recommend that everyone read OUT OF NOWHERE. It is a book that you will not forget in the near future. Mr. Miller is a very, very talented author. And he continues to prove it with this second book. Don't miss the chance to see Mr. Miller's star rise on the horizon in the literary world, because it is on its way and moving fast. I know I definitely will be there. I hope you will be too.
Reviewed by Sue Hartigan, August 2002
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