Lorena Estep

Out of the Mist Lorena Estep

Meg Jeffries, a recent widow from the midwest, rents a condo on the beach in South Carolina to write a novel and work through her grief and loss. While running on the beach one morning, she is grabbed by a large man in the thick mist. His attempt to abduct her is thwarted by the arrival of an older couple and their Great Dane. Throughout her ordeal she makes new friends: Professor Zeke Sabins, also there writing a novel, but who she secretly worries could be the attacker; policeman Glen Gates, a widower who is attracted to Meg and who is assigned to the masked man case; Misti Albright, a young woman who has also suffered an attack by the masked man; and Jeremy Anderson, a veteran wounded in Iraq, but another suspect in Meg's internal lineup. The masked man continues to stalk Meg during her stay, and the story becomes more convoluted when her daughter, Jenna, shows up at Meg's door one morning declaring her one-year marriage over. Another suspect arrives on the scene in the form of an unpleasant man who own a condo a floor below, causing problems for Meg, and also fitting the build of the attacker. The perpetrator is elusive with the games he plays, and it remains anyone's guess until the last who the real masked man might be.