Book Review: What Doesn't Kill Her by Max Allan Collins

Jordan Rivera spends ten years in an Ohio mental hospital, completely mute, as the only survivor of a home invasion that left the rest of her family dead. She is a witness; she saw the face of the killer. But because he asked her to 'tell his story,' she defiantly doesn't say a word--for ten years. Only the news of a similar attack on another family brings her out of her self-imposed silence and the institution, determined to take revenge. Are this attack and others on area families the work of one killer? The police have never connected them because of notable differences in the crimes.

Collins weaves a compelling story with strong characters: Jordan, several members of her victims support group, and Mark Pryor, a high school crush recently made detective who pursues the case on his own time. Jordan is torn between her desire to destroy the killer on her own and identifying with the other victims, accepting their help. There are lots of interesting twists to keep the story moving briskly.

I only had two reservations about the book. First, I felt the motive was fairly obvious from the start, but none of the characters see it until most of the way through the book. Second, the killer's musings, spotlighted at a couple of points, seem almost a burlesque rendition of a religious fanatic. But then, he's crazy, so it's rather minor.

What Doesn't Kill Her will be published by Thomas and Mercer on September 17. This review was based on an advanced reader's co