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MIST WALKER
by Barbara Fradkin
Rendezvous, October 2003
279 pages
$10.95
ISBN: 1894917030


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Back in 2000 I read Barbara Fradkin's first novel, DO OR DIE, and loved it. I was looking forward to reading her third, MIST WALKER. Sometimes you worry that subsequent books by an author will never be as good as their first. I had nothing to fear, but fear itself. MIST WALKER was as fast-paced a thriller as they come. Fradkin's writing captures it all. Great narrative, dialogue and suspense. She knows how to build tension and carries it out until the climactic end.

Matthew Fraser has been in group therapy for years. He seems to suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder, agoraphobia and many other phobia ailments. So when he doesn't show up to his therapy session, one of the other members panics. Deciding to check up on him, she is quickly persuaded to think something awful has happened. His place is deserted, but she finds his dog weak, hungry and barely alive. The dog has been left alone without food or water. But what police officer is going to take her report of a missing adult serious?

Inspector Green does. The female patient happens to know his wife from the hospital. So he agrees to look into the matter. What he finds is that ten years ago Matthew Fraser was once an elementary teacher accused and tried for molesting students. Though acquitted, his good name and prominent career were ruined. His friends and family turned him away. Left all alone, after being acquitted of a crime accused of committing, it is no wonder Fraser is mentally unbalanced.

So did Fraser run away? Was he up to his old tricks of inappropriate and illegal behavior? Has someone from his past returned for revenge, unsatisfied with the court's acquittal? But why hold a grudge for ten years?

Green's wife and son are important to him. In the past he's been on egg shells around them. Why? Because his job is important too. Sometimes it seems like his job is more important to him. Neglecting his family is not something his wife will let him get away with. With this new case, however, Green's wife is sucked into the investigation. But will she learn to understand what her husband is up against night and day and cut him slack, or will she pack hers and her son's bags and leave Green for good?

It's an amazing story with some great insight. Though it is a thriller, it is a heartfelt accomplishment. I thoroughly enjoyed the tale and look forward to many more novels by this talented author.

Reviewed by Phillip Tomasso III, December 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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