Under the Beetle's Cellar by Mary Willis Walker (1995, Hardcover)

Synopsis
In Walker's second 'Molly Cates' novel, a school bus driver and 11 of his young charges are kidnapped by a cult of religious fanatics and held underground at the group's highly fortified compound. Crime reporter Molly Cates steps in to help the authorities, and her ex-husband, negotiate with Samuel Mordecai, the cult's iron-willed leader.

Key Details
Author:	Mary Willis Walker
Language:	English
Publisher:	Doubleday
Format:	Hardcover
ISBN-10:	0385468598
ISBN-13:	9780385468596

Size
Height:	9.3 in
Width:	6.8 in
Thickness:	1.5 in
Weight:	20.8 oz

Publisher's Note
Crime reporter Molly Cates matches wits with Samuel Mordecai, the tyrannical leader of a cult of religious fanatics that has seized a school bus driver and eleven children and has been holding them for forty-six days underground at their fortified compound.

The author and heroine of The Red  Scream return in a novel so terrifying, so  filled with squirming suspense, it's bound for the  bestseller lists. When Kirkus  Reviews greeted Mary Willis Walker's last book,  The Red Scream, with "welcome  to the big time," they weren't kidding. That  novel established Walker as an author with  "the kind of clout that sets publishers' mouths  watering" (The Philadelphia  Inquirer). And now she has done it again, with an  unforgettable tale ripped from the headlines and  more terrifying than our worst nightmares. Kidnapped  by a cult of religious fanatics, an Austin school  bus driver and eleven of his young charges have  been held underground at the group's highly  fortified compound for forty-six days. While a team of  federal negotiators begins to lose all hope of  rescuing the hostages, crime reporter Molly Cates sets  outto discover everything she can about the cult's  iron-willed leader, Samuel Mordecai. And as  the clock ticks inexorably, she takes the role of  Clarisse Starling opposite Mordecai's Hannibal Lecter,  engaging in a psychological confrontation as  harrowing as any in The Silence Of  The Lambs. Tough, terrifying, and relentlessly  heart-wrenching, this is a novel whose images no reader will  ever forget.


From the Paperback edition.

Industry Reviews
"Dynamite ...Mary Willis Walker is a master at building suspense to a well-nigh unbearable level, and her spellbinding plot, outstanding writing, and one-of-a-kind characters will keep readers mesmerized until the shocking climax."
American Library Association Booklist

"A knockout ...which will leave readers cheering, weeping, and gasping..."
Publishers Weekly

"Nail-biting suspense from the first page, masterfully extended to the last. Check your political sympathies at the door, stock up on your blood-pressure medication, and enjoy."
Kirkus Reviews