Laurie R. King: Folly

By MICHELE HEWITSON

Rae Newborn seems to attract disaster and pain. She has been hospitalised for mental illness and has survived suicide attempts and an attempted rape. Her second husband and her youngest child have been killed in an accident and she knocks back mountains of pills and sees her therapist.

Then she retreats to an isolated island off the coast of Washington State with wood-working tools, her pills and a gun. Her goal is to rebuild the folly, an eccentric house built by her mysterious ancestor and consumed my fire.

Despite that silly sounding plot and the ridiculous name of its heroine, Folly is nicely done. The writing evokes the peculiar claustrophobia of islands and builds to a satisfyingly scary denouement.

HarperCollins

$21.95