Lisa Gardner always leaves me wanting more. The book ends and I'm disappointed because I "know" her characters and I want to keep reading about them.

"The Perfect Husband" is loaded with suspense. It revolves around the life of Theresa "Tess" Beckett. A beautiful young wife and mother living in absolute terror of her husband and police officer Jim Beckett - a sadistic serial killer of young beautiful blonde women.

He is captured with the help of Tess and he vows from the prison that he will kill her. He escapes from prison and the story goes into high gear.

Jim and Tess have a four year old daughter who is being held in protective custody. Tess has refused the help of the police and the FBI. They didn't protect her the first time and she doesn't trust them to protect her now. She has no choice but to leave her daughter behind as she runs, looking for someone to teach her how to protect herself.

Eventually she'd led to the door of a burned out drunken Marine,J.T. Dillon, whom she believes can help her regardless of his bad habits and crass attitude. He's angry and suffering from his own dark memories and losses and he's not at all interested in helping a stranger with her problems especially when he knows she's lying to him.

This leads us to J.T.'s sister Marion, a hard as steel FBI agent who has no respect for her brother, his way of life and the new woman trying to engage his help. They argue and fight constantly but the battles are bitter and hateful. She's carrying her own "baggage" but deep in the recesses of her memories and she refuses to acknowledge them.

Eventually Marion finds out who "Tess" really is, about her past, and who her huband is. With this information in hand she and J.T. finally begin to understand the young womans terror and her training begins.

But Jim Beckett is very good at what he does...hunting down his victims. He is a psychopath, very disciplined, and determined to finish what he started. Bodies begin to fall as he grows ever closer to finding his daughter and his wife.

This book is suspenseful, dark, terrifying, sad, and a real page turner! I would definitely recommend.