This fictional thriller touches on two very important and related, if not identical subjects: rape and domestic violence.

According to the author’s note, the stories about domestic violence are based on true ones, with a handful of details changed to protect the identity of the victims. The other characters in the book, and the main story, are wholly fictional.

Gabe has been in jail for several years, following a trial and conviction for the brutal rape of his high school sweetheart, Kenzie. The story begins as Detective Logan comes to alert Kenzie that Gabe is being released, as evidence suggest that the person who attacked her was someone else. Someone who has attacked and killed several other women, and is still at large.

The backstory: while seniors in high school, Kenzie and Gabe were at a New Year’s party together, and both drinking (generally this never ends well). She ended up kissing another boy at midnight, which led to an argument, and a passionate makeup session, then two headed to the backseat of a car, where they decided they would lose their virginity together. Only, no condom.

Gabe left Kenzie, drunken, sleepy, and mostly undressed, though covered with a blanket, in the car while he went off to beg, borrow or steal a condom. Later, the two were discovered in a nearby field. Kenzie had been viciously raped, badly beaten, and was unconscious. Gabe was also unconscious, but showed signs of having been in a fight, including bruised knuckles and hands. He was covered with Kenzie’s blood, there were traces of his semen on her leg, and no one saw the other attacker that he claims to have battled with. Kenzie was in no shape to offer coherent testimony one way or another. She was concussed, internally bleeding, and with fractured bones in her face. She would be in the hospital for months, during which time she lost both an ovary and a kidney.

As the story starts, Kenzie is physically recovered, going to college and living in an apartment with two girlfriends. She has just taken a summer job as a counselor/attendant at a local safe house for domestic violence victims and their families, The Lily House.

When the detective contacts Kenzie about Gabe’s release, she is not sure how she feels. Following her attack, she was glad that he and been put in jail, but over time, and considering that he always protested his innocence, memories began returning to her, pointing to a different attacker.

Young, hot Detective Logan wants Kenzie to work with him, both on reclaiming her memories, on interviewing other victims of the same attacker, and he is also interested in dating her. (Not sure how realistic or professional this is - wouldn't he be thrown off the force for this?) Gabe also wants to pick up where they left off; he doesn’t blame her for his time in jail, but she is not sure if her feelings for him are real, or based on guilt that he was wrongly incarcerated because of her.

And then there’s Kenzie’s attacker. Will he try to kill her, so that she can’t identify him, or perhaps keep her in his secret underground tunnels?

I very much liked the emotional issues this raises. I liked that Kenzie herself was a very strong character; she might’ve been a rape “victim,” but there’s very little of the victim mentality about her. She doesn’t sit around feeling sorry for herself, and she is determined to reclaim her sexuality, on her own terms, and on her own timeline. Not when her roommates think she should, not when Detective Logan think she should, but when she is ready.

I liked that Kenzie sought out a job where she could help other victims of violence. And the details of her job at The Lily House are fascinating: keeping logs of the activity, the counseling sessions with the women, the chores assigned.

I like that in the end Kenzie is strong enough to face her attacker and outwit him.

Biggest problems: this is very badly edited. In too many places, a new paragraph should start to show a new speaker or new action, and does not. The author and her editor (if any) do not understand the difference between lay and lie, or between your and you’re, and make other spelling mistakes.

In one section that should be erotic, these mistakes kill it. “I know your not ready,” “he put his arms around my waste,” “moved the sponge father down my body.” Father, yuck!

In the end, the whole secret tunnel issue should be foreshadowed. It’s an old house, with an old history, we should know there are spooky things in the basement, but always turn out to be the cat, until last time, when it turns out to be the bad guy.

For someone who has experienced rape or domestic violence, this novel could be triggering. I still think it’s worth reading, but not for everyone. ( )