Rick Wells and Val Lopez are locals also known as “conches.” They had been best friends all through school, both going into law enforcement, but Rick married the girl they both loved and moved to Miami. She died, leaving Rick to rear their small son. He returned to Key West, was offered a job on the police force and was trying to recover from his grief when a break-in at his home caused the death of his son in an exchange of gun fire. Forensics showed that it was Rick’s bullet that took the life of his son. He left police work and now owns a bar on the island.

Pastor Rachel Howard was called to the Paradise Christian Church and, although much beloved by her congregation, she gradually began to change from week to week. Her sermons became more strident, more bizarre, and to some more paranoid. When she disappeared without a trace, Lt. Lopez and the community chalked it up to a nervous breakdown.

Rachel’s sister, Liz Ames, had indeed suffered through a nervous breakdown when all kinds of “stress factors” hit her at once, not the least was the finding of her husband in bed with her best friend. Her last communication with her sister had been a call for help from Rachel where she had alluded to many people out to get her. When she is finally physically able, Liz moves to Key West to set up her counseling business, determined to find out what happened to Rachel.

Spindler starts almost too slowly, using the first part of the book to introduce the many secondary characters. She works her way through several murders and Rick begins to realize that they have the trademark of the “New Testament” killer, who now resides on death row in Florida. The victims are brutally and repeatedly slashed and then decorated with Biblical carvings, and generally left in the pose of a crucifix. Only these murders have an added feature…they appear to be generated by some type of satanic cult.

By moving slowly, the author is able to fashion multi-dimensional characters that are appealing and mature even in the short time of the story. She deftly creates a sense of ominous foreboding as she casts out one red herring after another. She also does what few authors can achieve, that of logically presenting an ending the reader does not see coming.

The story moves with a wonderful sense of life in Key West. Disturbing, and I am confident it is meant to be, is the presentation of the insidious threats posed by cult living. Whether the members are motivated by promiscuous sex, unparalleled greed, religious conviction, or a sense of family, they are represented here as a viable threat to our way of life.

A bit jarring is that once the pace is picked up it tumbles frenetically to its conclusion, and this work lacks some of Spindler’s usual credibility of resolution. Still, this is one of the summer’s better books.

--Thea Davis