Monday, April 12, 2010

Exposure, by Brandilyn Collins (Zondervan)



(Click cover for more information)

There are many good reasons Brandilyn Collins is recognized as a master of Christian suspense--and you'll find at least one of them on every page of Exposure.
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Exposure sets the tension bar high from the beginning and doesn't let up until about three days after you've finished the book. I made the mistake of selecting it for bedtime reading. Don't do that. I still haven't caught up on lost sleep, and I hit the back cover last week.
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Ms. Collins, bless her slightly warped heart, chose a storyline that pricks at a fear I think everyone owns at some level of their subconscious: the fear of being watched. By someone. From somewhere. For some reason.
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Our heroine, Kaycee Raye, sports that fear way above the subconscious level. It pervades every waking moment of her life. Kaycee confronts her paranoia by writing a syndicated column entitled "Who's There?" (Okay, admit it. That title is freaky enough by itself.) In her column, Kaycee helps her readers deal with their phobias by laying bare her own. But someone else is reading her column. Nearby. For a definite reason.
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The shadow reader exploits Kaycee's neurosis for a nefarious purpose that Ms. Collins springs on us through a gargantuan twist late in the story. That's the point at which you don't put the book aside until you've finished it--despite your wife's post-midnight beseeching to please turn off the bedside lamp and go to sleep. That's also the point from which Ms. Collins may well become the defendant in a class action suit for inflicting chronic insomnia on an unsuspecting readership.
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So, it's Jeannie's turn to read Exposure. I put it on her stack of to-reads that sits on her bedside night table . . . then I took it off the stack. It's now banished to the reading nook in our living room. It was either that or stock up on Tylenol PM.
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You really need to read Exposure. I'll know if you don't. Because I know who reads these reviews. And I'll be watching. From somewhere.

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