"The Devil’s Madonna"

Sharon Potts is the critically acclaimed author of three thrillers about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Potts has worked as a CPA and business executive and is currently vice president of the Florida chapter of Mystery Writers of America. Her novels include the award-winning In Their Blood and Someone’s Watching. In her latest thriller, The Devil’s Madonna, a young pregnant woman, threatened by a stalker, discovers secrets about her grandmother’s life in 1930s Berlin that will have devastating consequences for her marriage, her unborn child, and perhaps even the world. New York Times best-selling author Jeffery Deaver says, “The Devil’s Madonna is rich with high-concept, captivating characters and a relentless plot that simply won’t let go.”

Potts applied the Page 69 Test to The Devil’s Madonna and reported the following:

From Page 69:

Javier preferred slender blondes with narrow necks and large breasts, much like his ex-wife and the woman in the photos and films his father had sequestered. It was like viewing an X-rated movie, but better. Only a piece of glass stood between them.

A car swished through a puddle of rainwater, the sound merging with the crescendo of Beethoven’s liquid moonlight.

No one was home at the Campbells’ tonight. Nothing to watch. Nothing to do for now.

Javier started the engine and turned up the volume. He’d drive around the block one more time, then check back.

I’ll be honest, I was hoping Page 69 would fall on one of ninety-three-year-old Lillian Campbell’s reminiscences of her life as a movie star in 1930s Berlin. Her fears that someone will discover and expose her true, hidden identity. Her involvement with an old art professor and his disturbing, lecherous lackey. Her terrifying escape from Berlin, knowing there are some things from which she will never be able to run away. Or perhaps Page 69 would belong to her granddaughter, Kali Miller. A young woman who’s pregnant with her first child and determined to learn the truth about her evasive grandmother’s past, only to uncover a secret that would better have been left buried. I was hoping that Page 69 would reveal the relationship and powerful emotions that both women must confront—fear, guilt, and hate. But no. Page 69 brings us the villain, Javier Guzman, as he sits in his car listening to Beethoven while he stalks the two women. It shows us Javier’s sickness and obsession, but not his motivation. All we can tell from Page 69 is that this is not a man we want to meet his prey—a ninety-three-year old woman and her pregnant granddaughter.

Learn more about the book and author at Sharon Potts' website.

My Book, The Movie: In Their Blood.

My Book, The Movie: Someone’s Watching.

--Marshal Zeringue