The Silhouette Girl

This standalone thriller in the best-selling Andrews franchise (Flowers in the Attic, etc.) places thinly drawn characters in overdone setups. The uncredited author alternates between the stories of L.A. nurse Pru Dunning and South Carolina middle schooler Scarletta Barnaby. Pru may have saved the life of a patient, Douglas Thomas, after noticing that one of her colleagues was about to give him the wrong medicine. The grateful Thomas gives her an extravagant gift, a pearl necklace that once belonged to his mother, and tells her to get used to being thanked by him. Meanwhile, Scarletta’s beautiful mother, Doreen, abandons her and her father, Raymond, who begins to creepily recreate Scarletta in Doreen’s image. The two narratives begin to overlap when Pru receives disturbing messages on her answering machine from a stalker named Scarletta, who knows much more than she should about Pru. Foreshadowing undercuts the suspense, as when Pru comments that accepting the jewelry was a step “on the road to a... serious, nearly tragic mistake.” Still, Andrews’s fans should be satisfied. Agent: Al Zuckerman, Writers House. (Jan.)