מאת Lisa Unger
On the surface, Annie Powers’s life in a wealthy Floridian suburb is happy and idyllic. Her husband, Gray, loves her fiercely; together, they dote on their beautiful young daughter, Victory. But the bubble surrounding Annie is pricked when she senses that the demons of her past have resurfaced and, to her horror, are now creeping up on her. These are demons she can’t fully recall because of a highly dissociative state that allowed her to forget the tragic and violent episodes of her earlier life as Ophelia March and to start over, under the loving and protective eye of Gray, as Annie Powers. Disturbing events—the appearance of a familiar dark figure on the beach, the mysterious murder of her psychologist—trigger strange and confusing memories for Annie, who realizes she has to quickly piece them together before her past comes to claim her future and her daughter.
On the surface, Annie Powers’s life in a wealthy Floridian suburb is happy and idyllic. Her husband, Gray, loves her fiercely; together, they dote on their beautiful young daughter, Victory. But the bubble surrounding Annie is pricked when she senses that the demons of her past have resurfaced and, to her horror, are now creeping up on her. These are demons she can’t fully recall because of a highly dissociative state that allowed her to forget the tragic and violent episodes of her earlier life as Ophelia March and to start over, under the loving and protective eye of Gray, as Annie Powers. Disturbing events—the appearance of a familiar dark figure on the beach, the mysterious murder of her psychologist—trigger strange and confusing memories for Annie, who realizes she has to quickly piece them together before her past comes to claim her future and her daughter.
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Starred review from April 7, 2008
Annie Powers leads the perfect life in Florida with her husband, Gray, and their four-year-old daughter in this stellar character-driven stand-alone from bestseller Unger (A Sliver of Truth
). Less than a decade earlier, however, Annie was Ophelia March, the teenage captive—or accomplice—of spree killer Marlowe Geary. Gray, a partner in his father's private security consultant firm, tracked Marlowe and rescued Ophelia after sending the killer's car over a cliff. Reinventing herself with Gray's help, Annie can't remember all that happened during her years with Marlowe, and she's prone to panic attacks and blackouts. When a strange man appears on her property, Annie's sure Marlowe is back. As a shady police detective digs into her past, Annie must try to recover the memories she buried if she's ever going to be free from Marlowe. Unger expertly turns what could have been a routine serial-killer story into a haunting odyssey for Annie, dropping red herrings and clues along the way until the reader feels as unsettled as Annie. -
April 15, 2008
Annie Powers is the picture of respectability, with a devoted husband and darling baby daughter. She is hiding a terrible secret, though: in the past, she was a serial killer's companion and girlfriend. Her experiences have left her traumatized and emotionally fragile, and she lives in fear of discovery. In her first stand-alone novel (after "Beautiful Lies" and "Sliver of Truth"), Unger continues her tradition of page-turning action and intriguing plots. The story is engaging, but the heroine would be far more likable if she took some responsibility for her past actions. Unger seems to make excuses for her main character, presenting her as the poor, forlorn victim of a violent lover. Readers will wonder if the author is implying that a bad childhood and fear for her own life justify this woman's behavior. After all, she accompanied a murderer and stood by while he brutalized innocent victims. The ending is imaginative, if far-fetched, but the author's style makes this highly entertaining anyway. Recommended. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 1/08.]Linda Oliver, MLIS, Colorado SpringsCopyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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April 1, 2008
Annie Powers seems to lead an idyllic suburban life. She has a devoted husband, a cherubic young daughter, and a beautiful home with sweeping views of the Gulf of Florida. But not so many years ago, Annie was entangled in a scenario that was anything but serene. Her emotionally twisted relationship with serial killer Marlowe Geary had turned her from a moody teen into a criminal accomplice with a hardened heart. Only by faking her death and taking on a new identity was Annie able to jettison her pastor so she thought. Her husband, Gray, had long insisted that Marlowe was dead. But after an eerie encounter on the beach, Annie is not so sure. As the cracks in her carefully constructed facade deepen, she flees her family, determined to learn the truth. Annies mental state becomes more precarious with each passing day, until she can no longer distinguish whats imaginary from whats real. Theres a bit too much shifting between present and past in this stand-alone psychological thriller by Unger, author of the best-selling and critically acclaimed Ridley Jones series. But the author makes up for an occasionally awkward narrative with the compelling character of Annie: dark, troubled, and teetering on the brink.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.) - Entertainment Weekly "[A] hurricane of a thriller...impossible to extract yourself until the last page."
- People "Unger's latest keeps the adrenaline pumping with a roller-coaster plot and harrowing psychological suspense...well worth the ride."
- NY Daily News "[Lisa Unger] delivers such a ride you don't want the whiligig to stop....Built into the story is Annie's grim reality as well as her even more terrifying imaginations. Until the very end, Unger leaves us twisting as to which is which, and what is actually happening....Black Out is...psychotic scary, all the way."
- Naples Sun-Times "Black Out is an outstanding example of the psychological thriller. It's also a white hot page-turner. However, this book is more than a thrill ride. Its feeling-tones and issues linger after the denouement, as is the case with significant literature. Its exploration of the human psyche brings insights both authentic and profound. Annie's plight will mean something to astute readers -they will take it personally. Lisa Unger is not - or not yet - the American Dostoevsky, but she may be on her way."
- St Petersburg Times "Unger does a masterful job of keeping the reader engaged....As Black Out spirals through one shock after another, it becomes increasingly clear that not only can [the narrator] Annie trust no one else, she can't always trust herself."
- Associated Press "[A] largely gripping narrative and evocative, muscular prose....Unger...create[s] the perfect razor's edge of tension."
- Bookreporter.com "Black Out ... is bound to be a sure hit. In it, [Unger] has written literature that is ... a thriller with more twists than a cage full of snakes. Right about the time that you think you know what's going on, the story takes another angle. Hold on tight...it's a scary ride!"
- Harlan Coben "Black Out is riveting psychological suspense of the first order. If you haven't yet experienced Lisa Unger, what are you waiting for?"
- Tess Gerritsen, author of The Bone Garden "I read Black Out in one hungry gulp, and spent the rest of the night trying to calm my jangled nerves. This is a stunning, mind-bending shocker with moments of sheer terror–one of the best thrillers I've read this year!"
- Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of Power Play and Killer Instinct "Twisty, riveting, and enormously exciting. Lisa Unger is a powerful and elegant writer, and Black Out is her best novel yet."
- Booklist "Unger, author of the best-selling and critically acclaimed Ridley Jones series...[creates the] compelling character of Annie: dark, troubled, and teetering on the brink."
- Crimespree Magazine "Let Lisa Unger work her magic and I promise the ending will be a major payoff you will love. This book is really something special – once again Lisa Unger has kept me up all night."
- Publishers Weekly, starred review "Annie Powers leads the perfect life in Florida with her husband, Gray, and their four-year-old daughter in this stellar character-driven stand-alone from bestseller Unger (A Sliver of Truth). Less than a decade earlier, however, Annie was Ophelia March, the teenage captive--or accomplice--of spree killer Marlowe Geary. Gray, a partner in his father's private security consultant firm, tracked Marlowe and rescued Ophelia after sending the killer's car over a cliff. Reinventing herself with Gray's help, Annie can't remember all that happened during her years with Marlowe, and she's prone to panic attacks and blackouts. When a strange man appears on her property, Annie's sure Marlowe is back. As a shady police detective digs into her past, Annie must try to recover the memories she buried if she's ever going to be free from Marlowe. Unger expertly turns what could have been a routine serial-killer story into a haunting odyssey for Annie, dropping red herrings and clues along the way until the reader feels as unsettled as Annie."
