More than twenty years later, Erica seems to have buried the past, with a successful business as an art dealer and a seemingly normal life, including an unsatisfactory marriage and a promising love affair. Robert, however, is still locked in a nightmare, living almost as a vagrant despite his wealth, hearing voices, and feared by the townspeople who consider him a madman. When a young woman is brutally murdered, Robert is an obvious suspect.

Erica has always protected Robert as best she could; knowing how much he has been hurt already. She tries to ignore her own suspicions, but they build until she takes off in a search for the truth – and disappears into the labyrinth of caves she and Robert used to play in as children. As the search for her intensifies, she must combat a killer one-on-one if she is ever to escape from the suffocating dark.

Maybe I've just read too many "crazy killer" stories (though there are still ones that can rivet me to the page), but this one seemed to be all-too-typical fare. The characters are well done (I particularly liked the police chief), but the pace almost drags at times. The story begins with the heroine making a too-dumb-to-live maneuver (with expected results) and continues with predictable twists and turns. She does manage to show some unexpected pluck, but with no doubts as to the villain or his motives, the heroine's situation, or the probable ending, Comes the Dark holds few surprises and only mild suspense.

--Jeri Wright