The Horror of Bullying, Violent Crime, in a Page-Turner from Eric Rickstad, THE NAMES OF DEAD GIRLS

As I write this, the final episode of a serial drama on the Unabomber, a mail-using terrorist whose bombs murdered innocent unconnected people over two decades, has just aired. It's clear that there are humans -- shudder -- who will use any means to exert power over others, whether to make a point or to watch the effects of threat, torture, and death on others. Crime fiction, I think, helps us to box this into a "story" so that we can set the knowledge aside and go on with our lives.

Into this comes this week's hot release, THE NAMES OF DEAD GIRLS, from Eric Rickstad. This award-winning author who lives in Vermont mines the forms of terror that can occur in small rural communities, weaving them across the lives of people who care deeply about keeping each other safe ... in this case, Detective Frank Rath, his colleague Detective Sonja Test, and Frank's niece, long his adopted daughter, Rachel. The release from prison of the murderer who killed Rachel's parents triggers a situation of danger and threat for Frank and Rachel, and only proof of the violent psychopath's continued crimes will gain any kind of peace of mind or safety for these valued members of their community.

Rickstad is a flawless storyteller and an expert at raising suspense through small images, sudden plot twists, and believable crises. In THE NAMES OF DEAD GIRLS another powerful thread is Rachel's now-adult awareness of what happened to her parents, as she obtains access to the file on their murders:

The profound and profane violence did not crush Rachel; the photo of her parents alive, beaming, coddling their swaddled baby between them, did. They were radiant. They were young. Scarcely older than Rachel. In their twenties.

Rachel forced herself to memorize the photos ... The images would never let her forget.

Macabre and slow revelations pile up for the characters that Rickstad paints so well. By the time the book's speeding toward its dark conclusion, there's no putting it down. Keep in mind, this is a sequel to The Silent Girls and the e-release Lie in Wait; also, a reminder for Vermont-familiar readers -- the place names are sort of random, not connected geographically with the actual named locations in Vermont, although heavily based on the Northeast Kingdom.

Don't miss the Author Note on this one -- because Rickstad reveals what started him on this track, with images I may never be able to forget, either.

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.