Black Out: A Novel by Lisa Unger (2008 )

Genre:  Psychological/Suspense Fiction

Lisa Unger is back again with another white-hot thriller.  As with her previous books, Beautiful Lies and Sliver of Truth, Unger will pull you in from the first page, and you may not get any sleep until you finish it.

Annie Powers leads an idyllic life in a ritzy part of Florida with her husband, Gray, and their four-year-old daughter, Victory.  Very few people know that five years earlier, Annie was Ophelia March, a teenage runaway who was also the accomplice of a serial killer named Marlowe Geary. Ophelia barely escaped from that situation alive with the help of Gray, who had been tracking the killer and subsequently rescued and fell in love with Ophelia; with Gray’s help, Ophelia became Annie, a sweet housewife who suffers from blackouts and panic attacks and has a sketchy memory of events of the past.

But soon Annie starts to see signs that Geary has returned. She becomes petrified and will do anything to protect her new life, and her daughter. Has Geary really returned? Or has Annie/Ophelia finally lost her mind?

Unger unfolds Annie’s story slowly with each chapter going backward and forward through time, keeping the reader on a painful edge. Though Unger is a relative newcomer, she’s quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Her stories aren’t always realistic, but her imaginative scenarios are compelling and emotional. She’s on her way to becoming one of the great ones.

Reserve Black Out today.