What Lies in Shadow: Tina Wainscott

When Jonna started her weblog she was only looking for a place to express herself and learn more about her own needs and desires. She never intended for anything to truly come out of it. When she starts to suspect that her husband is cheating on her though, she allows herself to become closer to "Dominic", a frequent commenter on her site. When she finally makes the decision to take the attraction offline and face-to-face, she will become all too aware of the danger in her decision.

Jonna Karakosta is married to an extremely wealthy financier. She wants for nothing but still insists on running her own event-planning business to keep a sense of independence. She loves her husband but there has always been a distance between them so when comes across the idea of blogging it seems like a safe and anonymous way of expressing herself while still connecting with people. She isn't prepared for the amount of feedback that her blog receives and when she begins to suspect her husband of cheating on her, it's to one of her visitors that she turns for comfort. Dominic's words to her, in e-mails, seem so wonderful and compelling but soon enough, face-to-face, Jonna will learn the truth about Dominic and his inability to say no. As Dominic attempts to insinuate himself into Jonna's life, even against her will, Jonna must deal with a best friend who doesn't believe that Dominic might hurt her, and a husband who is keeping secrets of his own. The web that begins wrapping around Jonna from all sides may very well be the death of her if she doesn't figure out all the threads before the end comes.

By now I believe we should all be well aware of the dangers inherent in meeting anyone offline that we know from the internet. The fact that this character should choose to have an affair with some she only knows from her blog and e-mails, on the slight suspicion that her husband is cheating almost makes one feel that it's her own fault. Not to mention the fact that once the stalking begins, her best friend can only comment about how it seems "kind of romantic" and the police, when she finally goes, make fun of her because they know about the blog since it's become rather famous in the city. She doesn't even think to tell her husband.

All of this leads to a terribly shallow and unsympathetic heroine who only seems to be getting what she deserves. The story, though it involves the use of New Media, is still an old and familiar one and trodden ground doesn't get anymore interesting in the re-telling. From what I understand Tina Wainscott is quite the prolific author of mysteries involving female protagonists however if this is the caliber of her usual story I don't believe I'll be giving her another try.
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Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks; First Edition edition (February 5, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0312941641
ISBN-13: 978-0312941642