This is the first Katia Lief book that I’ve read, and I didn’t know what to expect. What I got was a well-written, tautly-plotted thriller with an unusual heroine: former Detective Karin Schaeffer who, when we first meet her, is dealing with mental problems following the murder of her husband and son. Karin is attending therapy, has attempted suicide, and is merely existing in a life without joy - that is, until the man who killed her loved ones escapes from prison.

The murderer, Martin Price, always leaves dominoes at the scenes of his crimes to point to the next victim. Karin knows she is next and in some ways welcomes the release of death. But when Price arrives, things don’t go quite as she expects. Can he be caught again? Can the murders finally be brought to a close?

The first half of You Are Next is fascinating in its depiction of Karin's emotions. I don’t think I’ve read a novel before that bared the thought processes of a person in a situation like this, and I found it believable and sobering. The other characters very much take second place to Karin, but her former police partner, Mac, plays a growing role. Although we are never entirely sure how the murderer finds out some information about people, I found it a believable story - one I read in a single sitting, it was so good.