Monday With Kaye: "Wicked Lies" by Lisa Jackson (Reviewed by Kaye George)

Kaye George starts us off on this first Monday in May with another Thriller Monday. Instead of being manic, read a book. 

Wicked Lies by Lisa Jackson

This suspense thriller, written by sisters Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush, is the fourth in their series dealing with The Colony. Called Siren Song by the Oregon locals, or sometimes just 'the cult,' The Colony is a fortified compound where a group of half-sisters live under the strict rule of Catherine, their aunt. Some of the sisters have escaped into the real world.

Among them is Laura Adderly. She's gone through nursing school and married a doctor. She would be a success story, except that she's divorced from Byron, the doctor, and has just found out that she's pregnant by her ex as a result of a last minute reconciliation attempt. She's also finding out that her demented half-brother, Justice Turnbull, who wants to kill all the sisters, is now able to smell her. It seems he can easily detect the presence of pregnant relatives. Laura had immediately grown attached to the small life inside her and is determined to defend herself and her baby against the monster that Justice has grown to be.

Laura is armed with something more than her determination. All the sisters have been born with different 'gifts' and Laura has two. When Justice's thoughts invade her mind, she can put up a mental wall and block him out. The converse of that is that she can send her thoughts into his mind. Her second gift occurs sporadically, but has been a  help in her nursing career. Sometimes she can touch a person and diagnose medical disorders, even predict fatal conditions and death.

Justice is incarcerated from brutal murders that happened twenty years ago, but his ego-maniac, know-it-all psychiatrist is tricked by the wily killer and allows Justice to escape prison after severely wounding him and a guard. Now Justice is free to rampage through the Deception Bay area, killing as he goes, and threatening to annihilate every relative, every sisssterrrr, as he hisses into Laura's mind. A disgraced reporter, Harrison Frost, bent on redeeming himself by getting the story on Justice, through Laura, gets more involved with her than he intends. This excellent tale will keep you reading on the very edge of your seat. Be prepared for some late nights since it's over five hundred pages long.

Reviewed by Kaye George, Author of Choke, for Suspense Magazine