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Most women need only fret about what slimming, knockout outfits to wear to their 20-year high school class reunion. But Lindsay Ferrell, Kristen Daniels and Rachel Alsace are haunted by the ghost of Jake Marcott, adding a veil of dread to this momentous once-in-a-lifetime event. Each woman had been high school sweetheart to this class hunk and bad boy, who was brutally murdered at the St. Valentine's Day Dance at St. Elizabeth's High School their senior year.
At age 18, Jake carried the guilt of being responsible for his best friend Ian's death when he drank and drove. Jake's pain was deep, but not as deep as the pain of the person who brutally pins his body to the trunk of a gnarled oak with a thick arrow on the night of the Valentine's dance. Underneath the hunky image and stylish tuxedo lies a Jake only the killer knows. Jake's murder has never been solved, and it's his secrets that are at the heart of the murderer's identity.
Beneath the Valentine hearts and red and white helium-filled balloons that hung from the rafters of the old gym that gruesome night, the dark secrets of the members of the senior class --- including the "Cupid Killer" --- haunt the futures of this 1986 high school class. The 20-year reunion sets the stage for the murderer. The nightmare is about to begin, and members of the reunion committee are most likely to die --- one by one before the reunion.
Throughout this fast-paced suspense novel set in rainy Portland, Oregon, we are privy to the evil thoughts, plans and memories of the murderer, as well as her bloodlust as she stabs a former classmate to death: "Die, you miserable, spoiled brat. Die! Die! Die!" The murderer "had both loved and hated Jake's laugh, as she had both loved and hated him."
Lindsay, Kristen and Rachel each thought they were in love with Jake; they have never gotten over him or the brutal event that marred the months before graduation. At graduation, only a few including Kristen remained in Portland, while the others fled elsewhere, not really staying in touch until the reunion. The new string of murders brings them back together --- with each other and with former lovers.
There is a recurring theme of first loves, unforgettable loves, long-lost loves and found loves threaded through MOST LIKELY TO DIE, superbly written by New York Times bestselling authors Lisa Jackson, Beverly Barton and Wendy Corsi Staub. Love, wild passions and seduction reign over bitter hatred, vengeance and murder as this romantic suspense explores the effects of love, hate, tragedy and a family betrayal.
First loves are some of the most memorable, and at 18 we are beginning to make decisions about the types of lovers we desire. Love is magic; it can make your heart skip a beat and it can surprise. When love is in the air we are alive. Lord Byron said, "There is no instinct like that of the heart." Follow your heart. After all, some loves are meant to be.
--- Reviewed by Hillary Wagy
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