Library Journal Review: Starred Review. Murder, madness, and marital woes are the knotty conundrums Sebold (The Lovely Bones) offers readers in her latest tale of psychological horror. In a moment of panic, Helen Knightly kills her dementia-ridden mother. Appalled but not apologetic, Helen spends the next 24 hours pondering the chain of events that led her to this choice. From the very first sentence, which is a masterpiece of understated horror, readers are fully immersed in the perspective of an unstable yet highly functioning mind. The pace is superb, a slow tease that alternates between calm, reflective flashbacks and tense, tight descriptions of Helen's attempts to hide her crime and avoid the police. Though secondary characters are somewhat flat, they're reassuringly sane and normal compared with Helen, which makes it easier to stomach difficult scenes. Readers who appreciate suspense will find themselves unable to put the book down, especially near the end, when the question of whether or not Helen will escape the consequences of her actions becomes almost too much to bear. A daring, devastating novel; highly recommended for all fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/07.]?Leigh Anne Vrabel, Carnegie Lib. of Pittsburgh Copyright ? Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.