Surprise! (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798992015515)

It's October, 1939, Massachusetts and ominous European war clouds lower threateningly over Vicki Westlake's thoughts as she rides a train from Boston to Lowell. The young woman has more personal concerns deviling her as well this late afternoon. A successful, smart-talking mystery writer, Vicki has been dared by old friends Tim West and David Morrow to spend a "dark and stormy night" in the type of isolated house that would give H.P. Lovecraft the willies. Vicki never backs down from a challenge and gladly accepts, even over the dissuasion of a third friend, Sunny Addams. Once left alone, Vicki finds herself not alone for very long. A car accident on the deserted road sends concert pianist Janos Husaruch to join her, a man with a brooding past and an unexpected connection to Vicki. That's not Vicki's only surprise, for she and Husaruch discover something upstairs much more terrifying than a spooky dare. There's plenty of 1940s-style banter and wit, but mostly chills, and not just from the weather, as the body count starts to rise.Terrible secrets and dark betrayals leave Vicki terrifyingly uncertain whom to trust. Before the storm-tormented night is through, Vicki and Janos, as well as her three friends who unexpectedly arrive, will find themselves stranded in a house of death, death ever hungry for more victims.