A totally great mystery/thriller, not as supernaturally based as the other Straub novels I've read, but really excellent. Tim Underhill gets a call from an old friend named John Ransom, and learns that John's wife has been brutally attacked and is in a coma. Scrawled above her body were the words "Blue Rose," which connects her to a series of killings that took place thirty years ago -- and were thought solved. Is the Blue Rose killer acting from beyond the grave? Or is it just a copycat?

The phone call launches a complex and satisfying plot, which follows Tim as he tries to solve the mystery before him, while flashing back to Tim's childhood and his stint in Vietnam. Straub draws his characters well, and keeps the plot moving until the very last page. Great stuff.