Eva Pasco

5.0 out of 5 stars

A Psychological Thriller with Sizzle!

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2024

Mary Deal’s psychological thriller sizzles with heart-stopping, unpredictable turns from the first page to the last without letting up. The landscape of Seaport and its outlying areas is an integral part of Abi Fisher’s search for her daughter who has been missing for twenty-three years. Then, Abi is on a crusade to exonerate death-row inmate, Megan Winnaker, from an execution pertaining to an arson-homicide.

Could she be her daughter, Becky? Is Megan truly innocent ?

While that alone would provide enough fuel for the aptly titled, ‘Down to the Needle,’ there’s so much more. For starters: Abi and Joe’s co-dependent romance; Joe trying to do right by a former flame, made homeless from trauma; the roller coaster of emotions Abi experiences in cultivating a relationship with a cunning Megan, leading up to her scheduled lethal injection.

Mary Deal exhibits the hallmarks of a gifted writer. So much so, I’d think to myself, “You can’t make this stuff up!” But, she did—effectively blurring the lines of demarcation between fiction and nonfiction: her artistic details drive the plot; her ease with legalese; realistic depictions of a homeless encampment; the lifestyle of gang members living on the fringe; a look at life behind bars.

I highly recommend this sizzler which pulls out all the stops down to the needle and beyond.