Paying the Piper
By Simon Wood
Leisure Fiction, paperback, $7.99
ISBN: 978-0-8439-5980-2

The tension starts on page 1 of Simon Wood's wonderful new novel. Scott Fleetwood, a crime reporter with the San Francisco Independent, has been told by his frantic wife that one of his twin sons has been kidnapped. When the next call he gets is from the kidnapper, Scott's horror only increases: the Piper, as he calls himself, has a history with Scott. As we soon learn in the first of several flashback scenes, eight years back it appeared that a serial kidnapper had called Scott at his desk and began a series of communications with him. Spurred on by the thought of saving the latest victim as well as by the attendant fame surely ahead of him, Scott ultimately is horrified when he learns he has been "played" by a phony, the whole thing a hoax, and the kidnapped boy is killed when the real kidnapper fails to receive his demanded ransom. Scott receives the blame for the boy's death from the public, his wife, the FBI and, not least of all, himself. This time, the kidnapping of Scott's son appears to be personal: the Piper also holds Scott to blame, for his lost ransom and forced "retirement." And Scott doesn't yet know the full extent of what will be expected from him in order to gain his son's freedom.

As difficult as it would seem for the author to keep up the suspense generated from the first pages, he has accomplished this in skillful fashion, maintaining and amping up the tension as the tale unfolds. The complex characters and intricate plotting make this much more than just a page-turner — it'll keep you right on the edge of your seat till the final page.

Review by GLORIA FEIT

©2007 Lorie Ham. All rights reserved.