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I need to begin the review of this new and wonderful novel of suspense by reiterating
an absolute truth: I hate camping. My idea of roughing it is a room at the Embassy Suites
that does not have Fox News Channel among the television selections. A "nature
walk" is the strip of grass between a parking lot and any building. Using a 12-gauge
Mossburg to kill a spider is not an overreaction. Get the idea?
Now let's turn to IN THE FOREST OF HARM, which is about, among other things, a camping
trip. This bad boy is Sallie Bissell's first published novel. I trust that it won't be her
last. Most of the novel takes place in the deep woods of North Carolina, where angels and
soft livers fear to tread. Little Jump Off, North Carolina, on the edge of the Nantahala
National Forest, is the childhood home of Mary Crow. Her memories of the place are, at
best, bittersweet. While she holds a fondness for the beauty of the area, it is also the
place where her mother was raped and murdered by an unknown assailant. Crow feels at least
partially responsible for her mother's brutal death. She has taken that guilt and
channeled it into a career as a tough Georgia prosecutor.
IN THE FOREST OF HARM opens with Crow having prosecuted and convicted Cal Whitman for the
murder of a young woman. Crow and two friends, Alexandra McCrimmon and Joan Marchetti,
take a weekend vacation back to Little Jump Off following the trial. While the trip is a
chance for McCrimmon and Marchetti to take a break from their careers, for Crow it is not
only a well-deserved break but an opportunity to exorcise the demons of her memory. What
the women do not anticipate, however, is that Cal Whitman's brother, Mitch, is following
their every move.
Mitch was humiliated on the witness stand by Crow during Cal's trial but he has something
more than revenge for the embarrassment in mind. Mitch is afraid that Crow is going to
uncover some additional facts that he would prefer stay buried --- and he plans to bury
Crow and her friends with them. Mitch Whitman is not the only danger in the forest; there
is a deranged homicidal drifter hiding amidst the unspoiled wilderness. By turns cunning
and hallucinating, Henry Brank has stalked the woods for years, taking victims at his
whim. When he finds Crow and her friends at their campground, he has no doubt as to who
his next victims will be.
IN THE FOREST OF HARM, while ending satisfactorily, leaves just enough unsettled issues at
its conclusion to leave the reader yearning for more of Crow and Bissell. My understanding
is that both yearnings will be satisfied.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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