Kindle Edition Amazon Tekla Dennison Miller Category:  Action/Thriller Publisher: Medallion Press ISBN-10:  193475501X Type: Fiction Pages: 367 Copyright: January 2009 ISBN-13: 9781934755013 Big Bay Point Lighthouse, on Michigan's Lke Superior, has illuminated rocky shoals for more than a hundred years. Transformed into a safehouse, these days the stout tower shelters women and children from emotional turbulence. Celeste Brookstone, as new owner and director of the safehouse, has found a satisfying life mission following the murder of her daughter, Pilar. Celeste is also taking full advantage of the proximity of the lighthouse to the new man in her life, retired prison warden, Max Whitefeather. That the shelter is so close to Hawk Haven Prison where Pilar's murderer is serving a life sentence seems immaterial to Celeste. After all, she has played a part in seeing Chad Wilbanks locked away forever in maximum security isolation. Or is he. Inevitable Sentences is a suspense in which relationships are seen on many levels: the heartwarming love between Max Whitefeather and Celeste Brookstone, the disturbing liaison between Chad, a predator and Lizzie, a groupie who follows notorious male killers, the demands and betrayal of the friendship between Priscilla, the prison psychologist and Lizzie, the women living in the safehouse and Celeste, and the budding courtship between the distrustful Adrian, an abuse survivor and Doug the local maintenance man. It is an examination of human behavior in catastrophic and life threatening conditions. This sequel to Life Sentences brings together Celeste Brookstone, Max Whitefeather, now retired warden of Hawk Haven Maximum Security Prison and Chad Wilbanks, the serial killer serving life.    Excerpt Chad Wilbanks paced his cell. He’d long since measured the distance from the rear wall to the door, and as he placed one booted foot in front of the other, he followed his usual routine: he ticked off the names of one of his victims. One name per step. Very satisfying. Eight was Susan. Nine was Pilar. In the past it had irked him to take the last, unnamed step before arriving at the tuning point. Today, though, he hesitated only a fraction of a moment, then stepped down squarely, with all his weight. “Ten,” he said, and pivoted, just like squashing a cockroach. A wicked smile played across his face. It was time. His heart beat picked up the pace at the thought of the journey ahead. The time for his next adventure was nearing. The plan, which he had painstakingly put together over the past six months, was in place. Nothing would stop him. He would not fail. A surge of voices filled the cellblock. The other prisoners were returning from Chow. He despised their intrusion into his only peaceful time in the day he had. He faced the stainless steel desk bolted to the wall at the opposite end of the cell. Several letters were stacked perfectly square to the edge of the desk, each letter written to a desperate woman he’d found on prisonpal.com. They all wanted to be his lover, his savior, his wife. They all had gladly sent money to his prison account, as a guarantee for what they foolishly believed would be a future with him. Of course, each woman thought there was no other besides her. Each one trusted his carefully written pleas for a partner. Some had forgiven his crimes, but most simply believed him—that he had been wrongfully convicted as a serial killer. Stupid, stupid women. They all qualified to be his next victim. Chad wasn’t about to waste his time on the easy ones like his pen pals. He had a mission. A score to settle. He’d waited four years and now it was time for him to take the next step—the tenth one. He picked up the letters and fanned them, admiring the addresses from around the country, laughing at the needy women who dared think they could ever be good enough for him. He checked the calendar hanging on the wall. “I only have to hold on for a few more days. “Then.” He tapped the date. “Your turn.”

Genre Go Round Reviews
GENRE GO ROUND REVIEWS
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2008
Inevitable Sentences-Tekla Dennison Miller
Inevitable Sentences
Tekla Dennison Miller
Medallion, Jan 2009, $7.95
ISBN: 9781934755013

Near Marquette, Michigan, Celeste Brookstone converted the Big Bay Point Lighthouse overlooking Lake Superior into a safe house for abused women and children. She did so to honor her murdered adult daughter Pilar, the ninth victim of serial killer Chad Wilbanks, who is incarcerated at the maximum security Hawk Haven Prison with a life sentence. Celeste deals with her guilt because Pilar turned to charismatic Chad for comfort rather than her mom or her dad, Celeste’s abusive ex husband.

Chad plans his tenth homicide while charming kitchen worker Lizzie Chatfield who enlists the aid of psychologist Pricilla Madden in enabling the convicted killer to escape. Celeste believes he is coming for her as she is the reason he is behind bars; however, she will not be a victim by anymore or allow her wards to be either so she is prepared for him or for that matter the abusive spouses to bring it on. However, she is unprepared for a traitor within her safe house as the lethal snake charms another woman like he did Pilar.

This exciting direct sequel to LIFE SENTENCE continues the confrontation between Celeste and Chad as each reach out to abused women with different motives and ends in mind. The story line focuses more on the Lighthouse activity than on Chad working on the psyche of a prison employee eerily similar to what he did with Pilar; thus this is less of a psychological character study than the first tale. The suspense comes in the second half when the two female prison employees abet his escape and a third woman inside Big Bay Point enables him to go after number ten. Insightful into the fears and needs of abuse victims, INEVITABLE SENTENCES is an interesting cat and mouse drama.

Harriet Klausner


Author Endorsement
Terror never felt so cold. Tekla Dennison Miller deals the cards of suspense like a pro, pitting the vulnerability of a woman alone against the maniacal vengeance of an escaped killer, riding it in on one of the winter’s deadliest storms. I’ll never look at the Upper Peninsula in quite the same way.
Darrell James-Award Winning Author of Body Count


Suspense
Are you a suspense junkie? Maybe you’re interested in the twisted way the mind of a serial killer works? Perhaps you’re a Law and Order fan, and can’t get enough of the world of crime and punishment. Isn’t it odd how most of those genres feature a tough, grizzled male veteran cop or a young, gorgeous female detective—who is not only too young to know anything about life, but just way too young to be a detective? And why does it always have to be a cop or a former cop? Why not someone like you? After all, you’ve read enough crime novels, watched enough shows you could probably do the job, right? Tekla Dennison Miller allows the reader a chance to solve the motivations of a serial killer in the very ordinary personage of Celeste Brookstone in her novel, Inevitable Sentences.
Celeste Brookstone did not set out to be a crusader for abused women. In fact, she probably sees herself as a bad example staying with an abusive husband until he died, subjecting her daughter to that perverted version of love. Celeste often wonders if she left her husband if her beautiful daughter, Pillar, would still be alive and not dead at the hands of that killer, Chad Wilbanks. All the same, Celeste decides to take over an abandoned lighthouse and make it into a safe house for abused women. Somehow it seems fitting, especially done in her daughter’s memory. She also wants to be close to Hawk Haven where Chad Wilbanks is currently residing. She’s not done with him yet. Maybe the courts didn’t convict him for killing her daughter, but Celeste knows he’s guilty. Chad knows she knows and is amused, which makes it that much worse.
Chad Wilbanks is a babe magnet, despite the fact he is behind bars and branded a killer. He has his own website that attracts serial killer junkies; women who are convinced that he is misunderstood and that the love of a good woman would set him right. The "good woman" always refers to themselves. Chad encourages their letters and regular deposits to his bank account. He needs the money. He’ll be hitting the road soon courtesy of Lizzie Chatfield, the party girl cook the prison hired. No more four walls for him. No, Siree. No pacing the tiny area reliving each murder he committed. Oh no, he will be well out of his way—out of Michigan and the United States. He just needs to settle things with Celeste Brookstone. They have a long history together, even if she pretends not to know.
Max Whitefeather hates being in the hospital, but he hates even more being away from Celeste. It is more than a physical attraction. The former warden of Hawk Haven just knows he belongs by Celeste’s side. He is a worrier, no doubt about that. His concern about Hawk Haven landed him in the hospital and an early retirement. Being flat on your back gives you a great deal of time to think. He wonders if he should have told Celeste what he found out about Chad Wilbanks. Somehow it might be important. Then again, maybe it’s good he didn’t. He tries to reassure himself, but not successfully.
A frigid storm system blows into Upper Peninsula, upsetting life as most of the natives know it, and ending it for some. Celeste is called on to use the strength and wisdom she never knew she had to not only protect herself, but the women and children at the safe house. Max finds himself assuming the leadership role while escaping from the hospital with his former employee while Chad Wilbanks just escapes. It is definitely a cold and stormy night…not to mention deadly.
Inevitable Sentences works on every level. The characters are fully fleshed out, even the secondary characters. The motivations are good and believable. The setting is painted so well that it will leave the reader shivering. Celeste is an ordinary woman who is extraordinary when her moment comes. She’s not a karate-chopping vixen, but instead is a woman who wants to live and strike back at her daughter’s killer. All of the things the reader can identify with and applaud. The relationship between Max and Celeste is a mature love that is sometimes challenged by Max’s health. This is a bold move by the author, instead of having the man enter the scene with pistols in both hands.
Inevitable Sentences is the best book I’ve read in years and I read about a hundred books a year. So yes, it is good. It moves fast, no wasted words setting up the scene. Motivations are clear, no murky abstract themes. Best of all, the heroine is someone not unlike you or me, a woman who thinks life has passed her by for the most part, but suddenly finds there is a lot more left than she ever thought possible. All I can say is go Celeste and go Tekla. I have already recommended this book to several friends. Do yourself a favor and read it.
Reviewed by Morgan Wyatt
© May 2009