Just before the holidays I find myself in the mood for suspense and mystery. Sandra Miller's Concerto fits my reading mood perfectly. When I look at the book, I think of my oldest son. He knows every Classical composer dead or alive especially the deceased ones. He does not miss a concert especially if it is Beethoven's works. So I look at the violin on the cover because it reminds me of my oldest man child.
In the novel Chrispen is a woman who plays the violin with a small group. She finds herself living out a dreaded nightmare. Someone is stalking her. Sandra Miller helped me experience what it is like for a woman to be stalked at work, in her home, in a parking lot. The props these madmen use her horrible and frightening.
Along with fear I thought of how horrible it is not to know who to trust. Chris knows two guys well. She sees both Alexis and Dwight as they practice at the music rehearsals. The conductor is Darren. At first both men claim to really care for her. Then, circumstances change. The question becomes which one of these two guys would ever want to scare her to death and hurt her physically. Trust is not a word often heard. The word love is thrown about like confetti. Why not the word trust? If I have to question whom I trust, will feelings of insecurity become too overwhelming? Trust is a character trait that Sandra Miller made me look at closely in her novel while all the time entertaining me with dramatic events in the lives of these musicians. I had one problem. The names Alexi and Alexis were so similar in spelling that I had to make a mnemonic to remember Alexis as the son and Alexi as the father. Otherwise, the novel is perfect. Sandra Miller made my nerves tingle. Boy, did she fulfill that desire. I look forward to her next mystery.
