The Reckoning

Set in present-day England, Pinborough's gripping tale of supernatural suspense focuses on four childhood friends, Gina, Rob, Jason and Carole-Anne, whose innocence vanished one tortuous summer after a series of bizarre and violent incidents at Syracousse, the beautiful estate house belonging to Gina's parents. Since the day Gina's mother murdered her father, Syracousse has stood empty. A quarter-century later, without warning, more strange violence afflicts the four. After Carole-Anne's mysterious suicide, Rob, Jason and Gina—reunited almost as strangers—link the recent tragedies to Syracousse, where they return for a gruesome finale. Particularly adept at writing from the male perspective (the scenes involving Rob and Jason tend to be more emotionally convincing than the ones with Gina and Carole-Ann), Pinborough (The Hidden ) deftly handles the multiple subplots. While some readers may feel she overdoes the foreshadowing in the book's many flashbacks, fans of Bentley Little, Richard Laymon and Dean Koontz will be pleased. Agent, Stephen Calcutt at the Anubis Literary Agency. (Oct.)