Everyone a Stranger

A young woman with a dangerous secret flees political execution in this taut standalone from O’Brien (The Enemy at Home). In 1943 Washington, D.C., 27-year-old war widow Virginia Abrams makes a near-fatal mistake by telling senator Ronald Callahan that his son date-raped and impregnated her. Callahan responds by vowing to kill Virginia and anyone who might know her secret with the help of a homicidal henchman. Virginia and her unborn child escape to Seattle, where she finds employment under an assumed name as a secretary for a reclusive mystery author. She stumbles into new danger when her neighbor, Evelyn McNally, dies in a fall that her bright 15-year-old son, Tim, believes was murder. The suspense mounts steadily as Virginia helps Tim investigate, unearthing a deadly conspiracy tied to Seattle’s wartime defense plants. Soon, though, Virginia starts to worry that her efforts might catch the attention of Senator Callahan and his lackeys. The supporting characters are so vividly drawn that they sometimes overshadow the more passive, opaque Virginia, but O’Brien orchestrates his disparate plotlines like a pro, bringing everything together for a heart-stopping finale. It’s well worth the ride. (Sept.)