SCREAM FOR ME
Karen Rose
Grand Central Publishing
ISBN: 0-446-50920-6
May 2008 (hard cover)
Romantic Suspense

Karen Rose continues her chilling series involving Simon Vartanian in her latest novel, SCREAM FOR ME. Although Simon Vartanian is now truly dead, he continues to haunt Detective Daniel Vartanian, his brother. Resuming his job after the burial of his parents, Daniel immediately becomes involved in a murder case that has similarities to a murder that happened thirteen years ago. Alex Fallon has never fully recovered from the loss of her mother and twin sister. When Alex receives a phone call from a social worker asking her to return to Dutton, Georgia, for the sake of her niece, she drops everything to go. Bailey, Alex's stepsister, is missing and her niece is so traumatized she can't speak. Determined to locate Bailey and help her niece heal, Alex overcomes her own dislike of Dutton in order to ask for help from the authorities. Daniel Vartanian is stunned when meets Alex Fallon; her face matches a picture in Simon's awful collection of victims' photos, and Daniel notices Alex's return to Dutton has coincided with the murder of local women. As Daniel and Alex work together to locate Bailey, Alex gets closer and closer to the person who murdered her sister and many other women.

SCREAM FOR ME continues the Vartanian tales, readers would be recommended to be certain to read DIE FOR ME first. Simon Vartanian, even dead, is a chilling character, and readers should understand how much from the previous novel. His evil is much more implied than stated in SCREAM FOR ME, but he is equally as frightening. Daniel Vartanian and Alex Fallon are highly developed characters, and the emotions they feel throughout the novel run the gamut of guilt, bravery, and more. Readers will appreciate the strength both characters display throughout the course of the tale. The relationship between Alex and Daniel develops steadily, and the intensity of their romance is mirrored in the intensity of the brutal murder case. Readers should be prepared for frightening violence; a few questions are left unanswered, which indicates another Vartanian novel is in the works.

Ms. Rose continues to grow as a writer, and SCREAM FOR ME is her greatest work to date. Be prepared to be horrified and entertained!

Reviewed by Angela Etheridge
Rating: 4 ½