Perfect Nightmare

Kara Marshall's family is moving, and like many sellers she has let strangers walk through her home during open houses. Then her teenage daughter, Lindsay, disappears from her bedroom in the middle of the night. The police see a familiar story: a sulky teenager who didn't want to leave her school and friends, and who has run away. Kara can't accept that. Lindsay had told her that someone came into her room while the house was being shown to prospective buyers, and Kara is certain an unknown stalker has been through her home looking for something other than a place to live.

Patrick Shields understands her fear better than most people could. He lost his wife and both of his children in a terrible house fire, and he still carries that grief. What brings him and Kara together is more than shared loss, though. He also suspects that a malevolent stranger was behind what happened to his family. As more people vanish from houses that are on the market, the suspicions of both of them harden into dread.

Someone is moving through this quiet community unseen, choosing victims for reasons that no rational mind could follow. Kara and Patrick, isolated and increasingly desperate, set out to find out who it is. Meanwhile the intruder keeps a twisted diary of what he has done and bides his time until the moment is right for his next visit.

Perfect Nightmare is a horror-tinged suspense novel by John Saul, built on the unease of letting strangers into your home.