This time, dark combines elements of mystery, espionage, terrorism, murder and romance in Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Using his usual frantic, page-turning style, Sheldon takes us right into the story with a series of deaths that are made to look like suicides. When the wives of two of the “suicide” victims get together to compare notes, they realize there is a strange connection between their husbands’ deaths – both men worked for a giant think-tank called the Kingsley International Group, and both men were on their way to Washington, D.C., to meet with someone about something dangerous. Something that would cost them, and a dozen or so others, their lives.

Something called “Prima.”

Our two heroines, beautiful model Kelly Harris and lovely artist Diane Stevens, set out to meet with the enigmatic owner of KIG, the brilliant and powerful Tanner Kingsley, who has recently taken over the company from its founder - his brother, Andrew - after a terrible accident cost Andrew his ability to think. Or was it an accident? Soon, Kelly and Diane are on the run from killers they cannot identify, yet who seem somehow connected to KIG. And no matter what they do or where they go, the killers know where they are. Somebody brilliant is behind the scheme to end their lives, and silence them before they can learn what happened to their husbands.

As we are dragged deeper into the story, more dead bodies turn up, and our two gals dodge bullets at every turn as they try to piece together the story behind KIG and the many deaths associated with Prima. As they get closer to the truth, they come face to face with an enemy so clever and vile, they must resort to their deepest strengths to try and stay alive.

Sheldon, author of such mega-sellers as Nothing Lasts Forever, If Tomorrow Never Comes and Master of the Game, is truly a master at his game, teasing and taunting the reader with tidbits of information that keep you turning the pages in a frenzy to get to the climax. The end result of this novel involves a sinister form of terrorism that Sheldon claims is real and is being researched by our very own government, which makes you feel awfully paranoid. I won’t be a spoiler and tell you what Prima is, but suffice it to say it is pretty scary stuff, so scary that the author felt compelled to include an Afterword that is really more of a warning for we, the people.

Are You Afraid of the Dark? is sheer great storytelling, even if the situations often seem a little incredulous and the characters a little cardboard. You still gobble up every bit of this thriller, breathlessly flipping the pages until the very last word, only to be left wanting more.