In a sunny Southern California suburb, an already seasoned teenage serial killer sets his sights on the reclusive elderly neighbor who lives mysteriously in the Victorian mansion across the street. His plot to make the old man his next victim seems perfectly planned. But there are things about this potential victim that no stalker could ever know, and by the time the young man is in the midst of his "perfect crime", he realizes he is not dealing with just any old man.

Tangredi jumps the story of Kevin, the young serial killer, and Mr. Trusnik, the hermit in the old Victorian through three centuries, bouncing between 18th century Czechoslovakia, and present day Pasadena, California. Her strong sense of place grounds a story that takes place between two worlds -- one mythic, and one mundane. Her characters are true and real, and her attention to historic detail shows in the smallest of ways. (In the Acknowledgements, she thanks a friend for his “knowledge of 18th century plumbing that led to further information on cholera epidemics.”)

The book moves quickly back and forth between the present day and 18th and 19th century Eastern Europe, but Tangredi makes the transitions smooth and keeps the story alive in the process. The novel is suspenseful and intriguing, dark and a little melancholy. A very good summer read.