Last year at ThrillerFest, I got my hands on an ARC of Carter Wilson's latest novel, Mister Tender's Girl. It just came out in February, so I'm sure you can find it in the bookstore this year. In fact, I know you can since I helped set up the bookstore. Find George R.R. Martin's books. Take a few steps left. Mister Tender's Girl is in the center row on the table. Oh, you're not at ThrillerFest? That's ok. You can buy it here. And you totally should. Let me tell you why...

Alice has spent half of her life suffering from panic attacks after two of her classmates tried to murder her with a kitchen knife because they thought a demon told them to. Alice has been running for so long, hiding to the point of changing her name and never telling anyone that she was the victim of the Mister Tender attack. Her father was the one who created the graphic novel that nearly ended her life, a fact her mother used to divorce him and move their kids across the Atlantic, from England to America.

It's now fourteen years later, and she still suffers from panic attacks. She starts getting weird communications from a stalker, who seems to have been following her ever since her attack half a lifetime ago. She lives an isolated life and doesn't have any friends. She's extremely paranoid, but that comes in handy sometimes.

I don't want to ruin anything for you by giving away more details. I really loved this book, though. I read it in only two days because I just couldn't put it down. The suspense was intense. I also loved how the opening tied into the closing. It was very well done. And even though it was an ARC I read, I found no more typos than I usually find in a completed book. (Which, I do always find at least 3 or 4 errors in pretty much every novel I read.)

Mister Tender's Girl reminded me a bit of Bone Music. Both were about a twenty-something woman who'd been damaged in her youth and was now hiding from stalkers by changing her name and moving. Both of them also faced a kill-or-be-killed moment that changed them forever. And both of them were absolutely fantastic! Buy this book. Seriously. You'll love it.