Evie Wilson was the victim of the villain in DON'T TELL, an assault which resulted in paralysis on one side of her face. After her injury, Evie retreated into the virtual realm, seeking refuge from the public eye by interacting with online friends. Now, with the help of a surgeon, Evie's face is restored and she is ready to return to the real world. However, she remains connected to the internet for her graduate thesis on using the virtual world as therapy to improve self-esteem. She has become an online shopkeeper who sells faces and bodies to users interested in building a new avatar on a website called 'Another World" In her new role, Evie maintains 'surveillance' over her test subjects to ensure they don't become too caught up in the intoxicating virtual realm. Meanwhile, homicide detective John Grace has been investigating a string of suspicious suicides that he believes are connected murders. John's investigation leads him to Evie when one of her online test subjects is found dead of apparent suicide, but Evie believes otherwise. Evie is shocked to find herself drawn to someone for the first time in over three years and she's reluctant to trust John.
However, he's the only one who believes her story about the suspicious death of her test subject, and he soon discovers that many of the apparent suicides in his case had avatars in "Another World." As murder victims connected to the website begin to appear more frequently, John asks Evie to be his virtual guide in the investigation. However, they don't realise that the killer is closer than they think - and that he holds a special grudge against Evie.
I thought this was a solid piece of suspense from Karen Rose. It involves some characters from her past books, but it's not necessary to have read them -- you get all the background you need. This story could have easily gone sideways -- the plot involves a virtual world. I normally expect the virtual/technical parts of a plot like this to be really unbelievable, but Rose did her homework here. I don't recall ever having to stop and scoff "well THAT would never happen!".
The bad guy here is pretty diabolical, and Rose does a good job of keeping you guessing. She's quickly climbing to the top of my romantic suspense tower to hang out with Nora Roberts and Sandra Brown.
