The Remains
by Vincent Zandri
This was certainly a suspenseful thriller! Twins abducted as children but escaped from him and never told anyone. The guy went to prison for another crime for 30 years. Those 30 years are up and he is out!
A savant is drawing pictures of her past and her nightmares with warnings written in the paintings! I really liked the plot and characters! ( )

For years, the Underhill twins had repeatedly been warned to never walk through the woods alone. The rumor was that a serial killer lived there - someone who had reputedly murdered his entire family. While Rebecca Underhill may have taken such warnings to heart, her twin sister Molly had always had a more rebellious nature. Besides, the sisters had always felt safe walking through the woods, and they figured that as long as they were together - they could handle whatever came their way.

That belief was put to the test when the sisters decided to explore the delapidated cabin behind their house. They never expected to ever cross paths with the deranged man who actually lived there, but he unexpectedly came home and caught them inside his house. After a particularly harrowing ordeal, the girls managed to escape - but fearing retribution against their family - they swore to keep the entire incident a secret. In the thirty years since their terrifying ordeal, the girls have done their best to forget what happened to them and to move forward with their lives.

Rebecca is now a painter and a special needs art teacher, but unfortunately, Molly has long since passed away from cancer. Suddenly, Rebecca begins to receive a series of cryptic text messages from her sister. As much as she wants to believe that Molly is trying to communicate with her, Rebecca just can't bring herself to accept something so implausible.

It couldn't be their attacker from so many years ago; he was captured and imprisoned for a similar crime at around that same time. Surely he'd still be incarcerated or dead by now - wouldn't he? Rebecca so wants to believe that 'the boogeyman' can never scare her again, and she doesn't want to believe that she ever gave him such power over her - but the night terrors she still suffers from say otherwise.

When one of Rebecca's art students - an autistic savant named Francis - gives her a series of paintings, she is absolutely astounded by what she sees in each one. She realizes that the scenes in each painting depict something from her nightmares - the nightmares she has had every single night for the past thirty years. Rebecca is certain that Franny has absolutely no knowledge of her horrific ordeal, but she is also stunned and confused by the accuracy of each of his paintings. It's almost as though Franny is somehow forcing Rebecca to relive the most horrifying moment of her life.

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. In my opinion, the story was intriguingly original and I enjoyed the subtly mysterious elements of prescience that the author utilized all the way through it. I also appreciated the way the author wove memories of the past throughout the present-day story and knitted both stories together. I would certainly say that Mr. Zandri captured the true essence of his female characters and wrote a poignant story with an extraordinary amount of sensitivity - a definite A+!

Actually, The Remains by Vincent Zandri is one of five books that my next door neighbor sent me, all by the same author. I'm not absolutely certain, but I think that the author may be my next door neighbor. Wouldn't that be something? ( )

It has been a while since last time I read such a good suspense book. My wife even said that this must be a excellent book to keep me reading till late in the night for three consecutive nights!

The plot is captivating: Two twin sisters were abducted in the woods behind their farm when they were twelve years old, and they decided not to tell anyone about that, to protect their parents. The abductor was caught in a different scenario of abduction and rape of another woman six months later and condemned to thirty years in prison. The twins assumed that he would die in prison. Almost thirty years later the story is resumed and we learned that one of the twins (Molly) died of cancer ten years before, the parents also passed away and the other twin (Rebecca) started having nightmares related to what happened in the past. And things develops from there, with Rebecca receiving mysterious text messages in her cell phone, and an autist artist, friend of Rebecca try to send her signs in his paintings.

This was the first book I read from this author, but I am looking forward on reading all the books he published so far. His style is very entertaining and we get so attached to the characters on the novel that we feel their pain and agony. Few books made me look behind my shoulder after I was done reading them. This is one of those. The short chapters are nice if you have to interrupt your reading for some reason. Also, it is an excellent scene breaker if this book ever makes into a Hollywood movie.

This book was written by Vincent Zandri and it was published in 2010 by StoneHouse, Ink. and Pump Up Your Book was kind enough to provide me a copy for reviewing through their Virtual Book Tour Program. Thanks, Mr. Vincent Zandri!
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I love a good thriller. You know what I mean -- the kind you can't put down. The ones where you keep saying "Just one more chapter . . ." while the the bath overflows, the roast cooks to stone, the sun sinks lower and lower, and the moon starts to rise. And the next day at work you're all bleary eyed and bored -- but the killer has been caught, the heroine is safe, and all is right with the world again. My problem is that as I've gotten older and more experienced, it's harder to find stories that provide that old "thrill." In an effort to hold readers' interests, some authors keep upping the ante by divising increasingly gory, sadistic, and ridiculously complex tortures for their victims to suffer. I say, Give me a break! When I read a thriller, I want a good, believable story -- a protagonist who is intelligent but nonetheless vulnerable; a villian who is cleverly malicious but not maniacally insane. I like a story that I think could actually happen. What I want is a good cat and mouse game where the mouse ultimately bells the cat.

I found such a story with THE REMAINS by Vincent Zandri. There may not be much in the story description that sets it apart from run-of-the-mill thrillers, but it is solidly written with interesting and plausible characters and a story line that kept me flipping through the pages late into the night. I liked Rebecca, the heroine, and found her backstory to be fascinating and believable. As a young teenager, she and her twin sister were abused and traumatized when they were trapped in an isolated and abandoned house for several hours by a serial killer. Thirty years later, her twin has passed away from cancer, her marriage has failed, and her career as an artist is flatlining. The girls never told anyone about their ordeal and so Rebecca still suffers the reprecussions of that terrifying experience, making her all the more vulnerable.

When she begins receiving mysterious text messages, Rebecca finally begins to connect with her ex-husband in a way she never could while they were married. She also receives help and support from her childhood neighbors, an artistic savant, Francis, and his mother. Turns out that Francis knows more about the danger Rebecca is facing than he's able to verbalize. With Francis, Zandri has created a fascinating and sympathetic portrait of an autistic adult.

I totally enjoyed THE REMAINS and plan to read more of Mr. Zandri's novels. Of course, I fully expected Rebecca to survive, but wondering who else would make it out alive -- and how -- kept me completely focused to the last page. If you like a good thriller, THE REMAINS is a highly entertaining read. Just start it early on a day you have nothing else to do - you won't get anything else done anyway! ( )

Great Book! Full review HERE ( )