By Greg Iles
Geologist John Waters's girlfriend, Mallory Candler, is beautiful, crazy and dead. It's a mixed blessing for him, then, when her soul resurrects itself and wanders into the body of a sexy female real estate agent in Iles's thoroughly implausible and completely engaging thriller.
Letting the supernatural come out to roam his favorite setting, a Deep South fraught with psychologically complex situations, Iles sends Mallory's psychopathic jealousy bouncing from body to body: Anyone could be a shell for her scheming, stalking heart. Almost until the end, Iles keeps the secret of whether this extraordinary yarn is a genuine case of soul transmigration or an elaborate scam. Occasionally there are unintentionally laughable moments, such as when Mallory pops up in the big-man's trousers of Waters's womanizing business partner. ("You loved me then. And you will again," vows the poor possessed man.) But it's irresistible pass-the-popcorn fun watching the upstanding Waters trade his life, love and livelihood for a few afternoons of steamy mind-games with this nimble, purring psycho. (Putnam, $24.95)
Bottom Line: A spirited chiller
