Until Death by Sandy Curtis

Publisher's Synopsis

Is she a killer?

Libby Daniels wakes from a drug-induced sleep to see two men crouched over her mother’s battered body. Already in shock, she flees when overhearing the men say, ‘Libby killed her’.

His past will put them both in danger …

Conor Martin can’t ignore the woman who takes refuge on his doorstep. He’s been alone too long, hiding too long, afraid too long, not to recognise her desperation … and her need for love.

Trust is hard to give …

until past and present collide in a violent attack that forces them to confront their enemies … and their deepest fears.

My Review of Until Death by Sandy Curtis

Libby Daniels awakens from a drug-induced sleep one night to witness two men standing over the dead body of her mother. To make matters worse, Libby overhears the conversation between the two men as they stand over her mother's body and picks up two snippets that break her heart and then chills her to the bone. The first snippet was that she was to blame for her mother's death and the second was that Libby would be the next to die.

Almost incoherent with grief and fright she manages to escape from her house, still dazed from the drugs in her body and from what she has just witnessed. Unsure of where she might find safety, she decides on flying to Brisbane with an idea of locating her grandfather who she hasn't seen for 14 years but who is now her only surviving relative.

So far to this point we aren't given any explanation for the events that have unfolded and are as confused as Libby as to what is going on. When she gets to Brisbane the mystery continues to grow. When she knocks on the door of her grandfather's house it is answered by a stranger who is extremely security conscious and wary of strangers. The man's name is Conor Martin and, because Libby by this time is on the verge of collapse, agrees to allow her into his house.

Conor is himself in hiding but we don't know who he is hiding from or why, we just get the impression that it's a matter of life or death that he remains hidden. And so, Conor nurses Libby back to health, trying to find out what has happened to her but, because she herself doesn't really know and because she fears she may be a murderer, the information is slow in coming.

In the meantime a mutual attraction inevitably grows between the two and a romance borne from the need that comes from two people put into an extreme situation is played out. Although it's a rather cliched scenario, the love story works and gives them both a compelling reason to help each other further down the track.

All too soon for Libby and Conor, their pursuers are back on their scent, flushing them out of their Brisbane hideaway, sending them back down to Sydney on a hair-raising chase that culminates in an all-out thrilling ending.

Once the relationship between Libby and Conor has been established, the story flows at full throttle as befits a desperate chase. Through all of this, though, Sandy Curtis opts for the secretive style of storytelling where she reveals a little information but holds back small but crucial details in an effort to add a sense of intrigue. Sure it works, the intrigue is exaggerated, but it does become a tad frustrating to continually get teased with information and it's not until right at the end that everything is drawn together to make a terrible kind of sense. Terrible for Libby, that is.

Although this sounds a little bit as though Until Death is simply a straightforward chase scenario and while it does contain all the scenes of narrow escapes from impossible situations before being tracked down again, there's more to it. Libby and Conor also have to uncover why these men were trying to kill her and stop them. Then there is the question of who Conor is hiding from, why is he wanted dead and how did his pursuer suddenly get on his trail again. One thing is certain, if Conor is caught, he will be killed. But wait! It also looks suspiciously as though someone is chasing the chasers. Now what is THAT all about?

In working out the answers to these questions, both protagonists delve into their pasts, revealing vast pieces of themselves to each other and to us. We slowly begin to understand them, like them and identify with them. Of course, there are a few confrontation scenes in Sydney that are rather far fetched, but for the most part, it was kept within the realms of believability and certainly thoroughly entertaining.

Fast-paced and fluid, combining all out confrontation with subtlety and even a romance crammed in there too, Until Death is a compelling thriller from the opening page to the last.