Book Review: The Anniversary

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Anniversary     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Amy Gutman
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Psychological Suspense
Little Brown, June 2003, $21.95, 352 pp.

He is credited with strangling to death over one hundred women and then having sex with them postmortem. His crimes not only impacted the victims themselves but the victim's families, his lawyer and his girlfriend who was the state's star witness during his trial. On the anniversary of his death five years after Steven Gage was executed by the state of Tennessee, three women receive a note saying "Happy Anniversary, I haven't forgotten you!"

When Callie Thayer receives the note, she immediately knows what it means and is afraid that her new life in Merritt, Massachusetts will be destroyed when the truth comes out. Melanie White, once Steven's lawyer and now practicing in New York City doesn't make the connection until Carrie calls her asking for help. True Crime writer Dianne Massey, whose book about Steven skyrocketed her to fame doesn't take the note seriously. By the time the dust settles one will die, one will be severely injured and the last will fight for her life against a killer who is determined to have his vengeance.

Every once in a while, a book come along that is so exciting and chilling that the reader instinctively knows it will become a bestseller. THE ANNIVERSARY is such a book with its speed of light pacing and its action packed plot focusing on three females in peril. Try as one might, nobody will guess the identity of the killer until the author chooses to reveal the identity.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner