Jason Wade is one of six interns at the Seattle Mirror paper competing for a permanent slot on staff.  This is his opportunity to escape life working as a forklift driver at the brewery where he worked to put himself through community college.  As the least qualified intern, Jason has been stuck with the police beat that no one else wanted.

  All the interns except Jason have made the front page with their stories.  Jason needs a red hot story to have a shot at the job.  Convinced there is more to Karen’s disappearance than meets the eye, Jason pursues the story despite his manager’s orders.  Then a dead woman is found from what looks to be a “ritualistic” killing and  Jason is the only one who suspects the body and Karen’s disappearance are connected.  As he digs into it, Jason discovers several other women who have mysteriously disappeared.  But what is the link?

For my vacation I joined my family at the beach in Delaware.  There I was lying out on the deck reading The Dying Hour.  The psycho serial killer was in the middle of physically and mentally torturing his latest victim before killing her.  Out of nowhere my name is called and I literally jumped out of the lounge chair and screamed.  My father had a good laugh at my reaction.  Any book that can scare me like that deserves a five star rating.

Alternating points of view from both Karen’s and Jason’s perspectives let the reader see Karen’s horror and Jason’s mystery.  Karen’s fear of her fate is compelling, especially after she witnesses the torture and murder of another woman the reverend has captured.  Jason’s hopes that Karen’s nightmare gets him front page is what readers expect from a reporter.  Over time Jason begins to see Karen as more than means to escape his old life.

Don’t start this book late at night because you’ll find yourself staying up to finish it.  I consumed The Dying Hour in one sitting.  (Well, I did move from the deck to the beach then to the other deck.)  From the start I was hooked and couldn’t put it down.

--Terry Lawrence