Dunston Falls, Maine – 1959

Sheriff David Peck awakens to the sound of ice pelting his windows; all electricity and telephone service is down in the small town of three hundred. On a short wave radio, he hears that the ice storm will last one week to ten days leaving people stranded in their homes. Concerned about the community, Dave sets up emergency shelters in the church and hospital. He and his deputy, Jay Bender, take their snowmobiles to notify everyone. Deb Robertson runs the small diner in town and has a generator; they are hopeful that everyone will bring food and blankets so they can survive until power is restored. Huge hailstones continue to fall, as well as the trees laden with ice, sounding like rifle shots as they fall to the ground.

The men who run the town include Ed Kranston, the City Manager; Father Regan; and Doctor McCoy. Dave goes out looking for people who are at risk without heat or power, and he finds a woman who has been raped, stabbed, and strangled. A tree had fallen on her home and no clues are evident. The city officials hope to keep the murder a temporary secret so that the inhabitants won’t get frightened, but when a second murder occurs, they inform everyone that there is a killer in their midst. When power is restored, the state police are called in to help. Dave begins to have some horrific headaches and frightening hallucinations, but Doctor McCoy can find nothing wrong with him. Several other people are also complaining about terrible headaches. What is happening in the small town? Is everything as it seems?

DUNSTON FALLS is a page-turner, well written, and a thriller to keep you on the edge of your seat. With a frightening killer on the loose, Dave tries to catch him, but because he is incapacitated by his excruciating headaches, he decides he must resign as sheriff. But why can’t he leave town? Everyone begins to look suspect -- are the pills safe that the doctor gives to Dave? Do the headaches and hallucinations have anything to do with the killer on a rampage? I recommend that you do not read the back blurb on the book cover which gives way too much information and could spoil the ending which is especially memorable. DUNSTON FALLS is an excellent book, very original, and I highly recommend it to thriller fans. It is a frightening story that I will have on my mind for weeks to come.

Marilyn Heyman