IF YOU HEAR HER - Shiloh Walker
Ash Trilogy , Book 1
Ballantine Books
ISBN: 978-0345-51753-1
October 2011
Romantic Suspense

Ash, Kentucky - Present Day

Ezra King had just been hoping for a good meal at the neighboring inn—he hadn't expected to find the most amazing woman.  Lena Riddle is gorgeous, funny, and a fantastic cook, and he's more interested in her than any other woman he's ever known.  But, currently on leave from the state police and not entirely recovered, physically or emotionally from his last case, Ezra decides that maybe now isn't the best time to get involved with Lena .

Lena awakes from a pretty good dream one night to the sounds of a woman screaming for help from the woods.  Her guide dog has been uncomfortable in the woods for months now, and these screams prompt her to call the police.  Though they don't find anything, she decides to talk to one of the deputies, and that is when she runs into Ezra again.  She's a bit miffed that he hasn't called in the three weeks since their one date, but upon learning that he's a detective, she fills him in on the strange things that have been happening in her woods.

Something horrific is happening in the small town of Ash , Kentucky , and in IF YOU HEAR HER, the first of Shiloh Walker's new trilogy, we see the beginning of the nightmare.  Readers are aware that there is a monster in the woods near Lena 's house who abducts and rapes women before killing them.  He's remained undetected until the night his latest “girl” manages to escape, and while he manages to recapture her, he later learns that Lena heard her screaming.  This will bring a lot of grief to Lena and her friends.

Along with Lena and Ezra, we also meet: Lena's best friend, Law Reilly, a reclusive author whose career is still a secret from pretty much everyone in Ash; Remy Jennings, a prosecutor for the town who used to date Lena; Hope Carson, an old friend of Law's who has moved to town to both escape her past and start a new life working with Law; and several of the police officers who are working the case.  Tight suspense and interesting characters will keep readers turning the pages of IF YOU HEAR HER, and the fact that there are things left unresolved at the end is only one of the reasons you'll be anxiously awaiting the next book.

Jennifer Bishop