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You Can Run by Carlene Thompson |
| (St. Martin's Paperbacks, $6.99, V) ISBN 978-0312372866 |
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| Simon Van Eaton, a noted retired West Virginia archeologist, has provided a home for his great niece Diana Sheridan. In the course of his present work he employs a secretary, widowed Penny Conley, who has a five year old daughter Willow. They have become an extended family of sorts, so when Diana receives a phone call from Penny begging her to come by her house when she gets back into town, Diana is quick to respond. She is scared because Penny had said she wants to explain something, hinting they were leaving and underscoring it with the statement that she fears for her life.
As Diane is driving up, the house suddenly explodes into a raging fire. Before the fire Willow left the house without her mother's knowledge or permission to wander in the woods to find a "surprise" for her mother who had been sad lately. Penny is thrown clear of the house but is very badly burned. A mysterious stranger, Tyler Raines, shows up at the scene and helps to find Willow. Elderly widow Clarice Hanson who lives next door is helped out of her house which has sustained some damage, and Tyler takies Clarice and Willow and Diana home to Simon. The fire investigators determine the explosion was caused by a bomb in the basement and Diana finds herself in the midst of a murder plot as Penny is not expected to live. The plot is complex and original, and starts the process of unraveling when Jeffrey Cavanaugh shows up claiming to be Penny's husband demanding to be given his daughter Willow. He is accompanied by his sister Lenore and her husband Blake Wentworth. Pushy, antagonistic and clearly "better" than Penny's West Virginia friends, they do manage to prove that Jeffrey is not lying. Diana's problem grows when Willow meets them and is clearly terrified of her father. Temporizing, Diana and Lenore arrange to have Willow stay in West Virginia for a short time while Penny is in the hospital, giving Willow time to become accustomed to the idea. Diana is determined to unearth the truth of Penny's flight from New York and the plot becomes murkier with the addition of two strong male characters. Glen Austen, a suitor of Diana, and Tyler who keeps appearing and disappearing. Both of these men seem to be unduly preoccupied with the mystery.
The characters are well developed, and the author utilizes the beauty of West Virginia, leaving the reader with a taste of its small town living. The foreshadowing is artful as the story keeps progressing. Interaction between characters is weaker as relationships seem to spontaneously occur, not mature. The mystery gallops to a finish, not evolving but ending suddenly in a confrontational scene when all is explained.
--Thea Davis |
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