The Anniversary
A Novel
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Three women reach the edge of terror as the secret past they all share is unearthed and turned against them. It's been five years since the execution of Steven Gage, a devious, charming psychopath who took the lives of more than a hundred women. In those five years, three women connected with his case have moved on. His attorney has rid herself of the stigma of defending Gage. A true crime writer has gone on to new projects after her bestseller about his rampage. And Steven's ex-girlfriend has made a new life for herself one where she won't be reminded that she once shared her home with a monster. But someone hasn't moved on.
On the fifth anniversary of Gage's execution, each of the women gets a private note... a chilling message that lets all three women know they haven't been forgotten, and that in someone's dark imagination, Gage's legacy of terror lives on. At the time of his sentencing, Gage issued a terrifying edict that all three women hoped was meaningless. As threats against them turn deadly, the past explodes into the present. And one woman is in the fight of her life to uncover who is really responsible a killer who is determined to start up the string of murders right where they stopped.
The Anniversary is another smart, razor-sharp thriller from a writer whose work has been hailed as "addictive" (People), "marvelous" (Jeffery Deaver) and "keep[ing] us guessing until the very end"(Redbook).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a chilling courtroom prologue, Gutman introduces serial killer Steven Gage: "There was something broken and evil in him that could never be repaired." Unfortunately, the rest of the book never quite equals the impact of the opening pages. The reader quickly realizes that even though Steven is condemned to death and executed, he will somehow rise from the grave to continue his murderous ways. The author's debut novel, Equivocal Death, featured a woman lawyer in peril. This time, Gutman has upped the ante: three women and a child are all targets of a Nietzsche-spouting madman who may be out to avenge Gage's death. An anonymous message ("Happy anniversary. I haven't forgotten you") is received by three different women Diane Massy, who wrote a bestselling true-crime book about Gage and is presently living on a remote island in Maine; Melanie White, one of Gage's lawyers and now a high-powered attorney; and Gage's ex-girlfriend Callie Thayer, who lives a quiet life under an assumed name in a small town with her 10-year-old daughter, Anna. Each initially discounts the message and its connection to the serial killer until very bad things begin to happen. The question for the three women (and the reader) is: who has taken up where Steven Gage left off? Gutman writes competently and keeps the plot moving, but the suspect list includes almost every male character in the book except 10-year-old Henry, Anna's friend who lives across the street. Experienced thriller readers will know that a profusion of possibilities and an overabundance of red herrings leads straight to that disappointing old standby: the Least Likely Person. Bingo.
