Linda Richards: There is some darkness in Ashes to Ashes. Quiet, shy, well-spoken and articulate, the 40-year-old author of blockbusters is protective of her privacy and her own space. More: if that's what you thought, she wouldn't bother correcting you. If you were to meet Hoag on the street, it's possible you'd think she was a grammar school librarian or a teacher. Hoag has a sweet mien - she looks quite a lot, in fact, like actress Annette Bening - delicate features and a gentle way of speaking. Knowing this about Hoag before I met her, and knowing also that this prolific wunderkind has been cranking out bestsellers at a rate that would almost put Grisham to shame, I had some expectations about Tami Hoag. This time it's a serial killer the press has dubbed the Cremator because he incinerates and sometimes decapitates his victims: not pretty stuff. Like other of Hoag's bestselling suspense novels, Ashes to Ashes does deal with frightening subjects in a frank, unblinking way. 'This is too gruesome for where I am right now. 'I'll have to save this for some other point in my life,' she reported. That is, she started to read it and stopped. The laughter in no way prepares you for her work.Ī friend of mine read Tami Hoag's latest book, Ashes to Ashes, before I did.

She laughs at life's little comedies and seems able to ferret out the humor in almost any situation. A rich, velvety laugh that invites you to laugh along. Kind of makes a commentary on our society when dealing with relationships is not a valid topic.' They think it's an easy target and they think that it's somehow - you know - not worthy of notice because it's about relationships. '.always any association with romance and you're going to get slammed because people want to denigrate that genre.

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