Good Girls, sequel to Glen Hirshberg's Motherless Child, is a creepy, atmospheric novel that never lets up. The horror of choices made in the previous book are developed to their fullest here, with mistakes and luck playing as much of a role as careful planning or serious intent.
Rebecca has moved on from the orphanage that raised her. Though she still looks to her "parents" there--the childlike Joel and hard-as-nails Amanda--for comfort when life gets hard, Rebecca tries to make it on her own, living in an apartment with three roommates and working at a crisis hotline at the nearby college.
When a stranger calls, hinting at more than suicide, Rebecca has no idea how to react. What she doesn't know is that her caller is a vampire-like creature called the Whistler. Though he's not human, he is attracted to worldly subjects like classic rock music; he takes to the darkness to attack Rebecca's friends in an ever-closing circle of death and mutilation, to demonstrate his love for her calm, still demeanor and (unbeknownst to her) magical talents.
Jess, protagonist from the first novel, hires Rebecca to mind her baby, Eddie, and keep an eye on her bed-ridden husband, Benny. Jess doesn't mention the legless horror in the attic, though, which may end up killing them all.
Good Girls is a powerful continuation of Hirshberg's previous novel, full of creeping horror and believable characterizations, even of mythical creatures. --Rob LeFebvre, freelance writer and editor