Chill of Summer

Brennan (In the Dark) skillfully makes use of suspense conventions in a lively tale propelled by complex relationships. When actress Emily Silver moves into the house she has inherited from her grandmother, she develops an affinity for Clea Held, a troubled teen who is using the house as a setting for her affair with a mysterious married man. Renewing her acquaintance with her prep-school roommate Ariane, who is now married to Zach, Emily is plunged into a web of tangled relationships, learning that Clea's father is enamored of Ariane and that philanderer Zach is smitten with her. Then she stumbles over Zach's body in her basement and finds out that he was Clea's lover. While trying to protect Clea, Emily is haunted by her own troubled past and the chaotic present, as her lover, a private detective, and his ex-alcoholic father move in with her. Despite outrageous events, Brennan's characters are brightly painted: the story flows along on their strengths. (May)