Mystery insiders have long savored Alan

Russell. He has alway sbeen regarded as a

great storyteller and a master at spinning a

piut. His last novel, Multiple Wounds, was a haunting

tale of psychoingical suspense, nominated for both

the Anthony and Macavity awards for best mystery

novel of the year. Now, with Shame, Russell proves

once again that he is among the elite writers of sus-

pense, creating a terrifying serial killer whose victims

include not only the dead bat also his survivors.

Like John Sanford and Thomas Harris, Rueseil reveals

what lives in the heart of a monster. Here, the mow

ster is Gray Parker. His execution was major news

and his story even became a bestselling book. For his

son, Caleb, there was no sanctuary. As soon as he

was old enough, Caleb moved away to start his life

over. Even though Caleb has always hidden the

hideous truth about who his father was, when he

looks in the mirror, what he sees there makes him

fear that some part of his father s evil might live on in

him.

Now, though, it s as if his secret has escaped into the

world. Bodies have started turning up, marked in the

same way that his father once marked them. And

when all the evidence points toward him, the only

thing Caleb can think to do is run far and fast. The

one person who believes in his innocence is the only

woman ever to survive one of his father s attacks--

Maryeiizabeth Une. She s the same woman who

became a celebrity far telling his father s story. These

two must become unlikely allies to answer two soul-

searing questions: Who is doing this and why?. And

who is Caleb, really, when you cut through the

shame?