Where Shadows Burn

Ted Thring is a book reviewer for the Queen’s University radio
station.

Set in Winnipeg, the novel’s suspense builds slowly, beginning with
the description of Kelly Quirk and her extended family. Her artist
husband, James, has been dead over a year—an apparent suicide, his
body never recovered. His brother Darl, abandoned by his wife, is
struggling as a single parent to raise his son, Alex. Kelly’s sister
Angel and her husband Paul are both neurotic wrecks following the crib
death of their only child. Kelly is a loving aunt to Alex and a friend
to Darl.

Mysterious things begin to happen in Kelly’s life. Articles relating
to James disappear. She receives telephone calls that might be from
James. We learn that James had, under a psychiatrist’s care before his
death, discovered repressed memories of childhood abuse at the hands of
his father, Adam.

Then Darl is attacked and suffers brain damage. Kelly tries to take
care of Alex but is thwarted by Adam. Desperate, she kidnaps Alex and
flees to Minneapolis where her friend Lila is working as a costume
designer on a production of Hamlet. Lila gets Kelly a job at the
theatre, and Kelly soon becomes involved with the play’s star. But
someone is still stalking her.

To go further would give away the cleverly contrived plot and its
surprising dénouement. Catherine Hunter’s first novel is a
well-written, well-crafted page-turner.