Genuine suspense is hard to find in fiction these days, which is why I was so impressed by Andrea Kane’s Run For Your Life. It’s a well-written, beautifully paced thriller with a surprising outcome. Since the Grisham well seems to have run dry, I think this would make an excellent movie.

Victoria Kensington, a successful attorney, is taking her morning run when she comes upon a woman in a hospital gown lying on a footpath in Central Park. More disturbing to Victoria is the discovery that it’s her sister Audrey, who warns Victoria of danger. Victoria goes for help, but when she returns Audrey has vanished. Victoria asks her hard-nosed attorney father for information and finds him eerily closed about the subject. Victoria fears her sister is in trouble and that her father may be part of it. Through her own sleuthing she discovers that Audrey has been admitted to the exclusive and secretive Hope Institute, a private clinic. They will not let Victoria see or speak to her sister.

Also investigating the Hope Institute is Victoria’s former lover Zachary Hamilton. An FBI agent, he has personal as well as professional reasons for being involved in the case. When a surveillance camera picks up Victoria, Zach reenters her life. They do some investigating together and as the case heats up, so do their old feelings.

Zach and Victoria are great characters who never become great people. They are glamorous composites that only exist in stylish thrillers. Victoria (think Catherine Zeta-Jones) is brilliant, successful, caring, and beautiful – so beautiful that other characters comment on it frequently. Her one flaw is that she’s stubborn and wary of opening up to Zach. Zach is brilliant, successful caring, and handsome (I was picturing Russell Crowe). His only flaw is that he can’t let go of demons from his past. It was what broke him and Victoria up, but luckily this time around he realizes that sexy saints do not come along every day, so he fights to keep her.

I can’t give away too much of the plot; it is to be savored. It is, in my opinion 80 percent thriller with 20 percent romance. I thought it was good judgment on Ms Kane’s part to have Zach and Victoria have an established relationship. Starting from scratch would have left the romance or the mystery shortchanged.

If you’re looking for a good thrill and the there’s nothing at the multiplex, this is a great alternative. I look forward to Ms Kane’s next effort.