SUITOR

Rating:
Summary: Taut suspemse tale
Review: Michael Allegretto is probably best known for his Edgar winning books about Denver PI Jacob Lomax but The Suitor is a stand alone book and a good one too
It is set in Denver-the author's home city-and revolves around Valerie Rowe,a personable young divorcee,living with her son Matthew and just staring to make a name for herself as an artist,her first solo exhibition being just around the corner. She also has a stable relationship with Greg a local print shop owner.While strolling in Colfax,with the ownwer of the gallery about to stage the exhibition,Brenda,she is set upon by a purse snatcher whose escape is foiled by Leonard,more by accident than design although she thinks it an act of courage.
She invite him to lunch with herself and Brenda -who makes no secret of her contempt for him-thus leading him to think she is serious about him.
Big mistake.Leonard is a disturbed young man He lives with his wheelchair user,religious fanatic mother and ,we learn,has killed in the past,burying the body of a lady of the night, in the woods near his family's mountain cabin
He lays siege to Valerie -flowers,candy,-and believes when she spurns him it is at the instigation of Greg and not of her own free will
He steps up his campaign which comes to include murder,attempted murder and eventually kidnapping ...
Leonard is a genuinely creepy villain-persuaded of his own worth and a total control freak,he evokes both pity and terror
Valerie and Greg are a bit too much the conventional hero and heroine ,while the mother could have emerged as a stronger,more sinister influence than she does but ,well and crisply written,this is driving suspense novel that most of its readers will enjoy