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Liz Moncrief runs a quiet little horse-boarding stable in Abundance, New York. She is a very private person, keeping much to herself. Nobody in Abundance knows that she used to work for the FBI, that she's been married twice or that her daughter was killed by The Cemetery Man (TCM), who kills young girls by burying them alive. That's just the way Liz wants it. Which explains, at least in part, why she is so un-delighted when her ex-husband Jake English shows up. He is convinced that TCM has also been able to track Liz down, based on the three recent murders which have the same MO as TCM, and that TCM won't be happy until he's killed Liz, too. Jake knows this because Jake still works for the FBI, sort of. He's on temporary leave because he didn't pass his most recent psych eval. Liz has a few friends in Abundance. One is the owner of the local book store, the Bell Book, and Whatnot, Julianne Rhys. She is a Wiccan, and has the same ability to read auras that Liz has. Julianne's brother John is the local sheriff. John has the beginnings of a romantic interest in Liz, which (due to a colossal amount of male posturing between the two men) is aggravated by the arrival of Jake, who obviously has 'history' with Liz, history which neither Liz nor Jake want to discuss with anyone. As one might expect, there are some killings which point to TCM being in the area. Liz doesn't want to hear this. John Rhys can't really do anything until a crime is committed, and having Jake tell him what he should be doing practically guarantees it won't get done, even if the Town Council will cough up some money, which they won't. Jake is frustrated by John's unwillingness to do anything and by the very mixed messages he is getting from Liz, particularly in the sexual/romantic area. I was expecting not to like this book, because 'kid jep' usually isn't my favorite. The 'kid jep' aspects are almost peripheral, considering how the book is presented. Yes, children are killed. But they are killed off-stage, so to speak, and the reader is presented with the conjectures of the adults in terms of what the children suffer. Most of the book deals with the various interactions between Liz and the men in her life, Liz and possible suspects, or Jake and possible suspects. Again, the nuts and bolts of investigating the crime are almost peripheral to the interplay between the characters. Which is not to say that this book isn't compelling. I had a difficult time putting it down. I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I knew early on who was going to 'get the girl.' I knew almost as soon as he appeared on the scene who the killer was. What I didn't know, and what I wanted to find out, was how the guy got the girl, since I knew there were issues in the relationship(s) that had to be addressed, issues that could easily be deal-breakers in anyone's romantic life. I also wanted to know how Jake and John and Liz figured out who the killer was and how all the loose ends I could foresee there being got tied up. That held my interest. I thought the last four pages could easily have been omitted; they tidied up those loose ends much more neatly than would ever happen in real life. S K McClafferty has written two other books (AS NIGHT FALLS and DON'T TELL A SOUL). I won't rush right out to buy them, or even to borrow them from the library. I'll gladly read them if I run across them; I'd buy them in an airport if I knew I had several hours to kill and (in an incredibly unlikely scenario) didn't have any books with me. BE VERY AFRAID was a compelling read, what I would consider to be a romance with a major mystery component.
Reviewed by P. J. Coldren, July 2004
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