Prolific authors can sometimes be intimidating, especially if they write a series. Although you might want to read their books it is hard not to feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of books you will need to read!  Kellerman is such an author, with 30 books to his Dr. Alex Delaware series of psychological detective novels. Luckily, every once in awhile he writes a stand alone novel so you can enjoy his writing without having to make the commitment to reading  his whole series!

Dr, Grace Blades, an eminent psychologist, specializes in working with those she calls, The Haunted, people who are victims of psychological monsters.  Her patients include people like Helen, whose daughter was raped, strangled and mutilated by a predator who was killed while being arrested.  Fourteen years later, Helen still makes an annual visit to see Grace on the anniversary of her daughter’s death.  For The Haunted recovery is slow and incremental and although Grace considers Helen one of her success stories, she still makes time in her schedule to see her whenever she needs it, especially around that anniversary.

What makes Grace so effective with those she works with is probably because of her own traumatic childhood. By age five Grace had learned that she could not count on her mother or her erratic boyfriend to feed her or take care of her and learned to fend for herself. After witnessing the murder/suicide of her mother and boyfriend and being shuttled between one foster family after another, Grace was in danger of becoming just another casualty of the system,  except for the special interest that one of her social workers showed her.  Eventually Grace found a loving couple who adopted her and she was able to create a life for herself. Her past, however, has marked her and Grace knows that she is not like others; that she is more detached and has trouble feeling emotion in the same way that most people do. Sometimes, just in order to feel something she engages in risky behaviors. but that part of her life is far removed and compartmentalized from the professional person she portrays to her patients and friends.

Then, inconceivably, her two worlds collide. Her last appointment of the day, before going on vacation, turns out to be the man that she had met and seduced  the night before in a hotel bar. Politely refusing to treat him further she tries to maintain the separation of her two lives, but when the man is found dead and a homicide detective shows up on her doorstep, the threat to her two lives becomes even greater.  As she begins her own investigation into his death, while trying to maintain her secrets, she begins to see that the past can influence the present in ways that no one could have anticipated.

Kellerman  is excellent in pacing the story, feeding us just the right nuggets from Grace’s past at times that are most relevant to the larger story.  Grace is a complicated character, one that is hard to fully identify with, because she does seem remote and detached.  But that is actually the point of this character, to get us to think beyond the familiar and to see how someone not quite like us can think and respond to the world around them in ways that are so different from our own.  In that I feel like he has really succeeded. This was a compelling and interesting read which makes me think I should reconsider and take the plunge and read his Alex Delaware series!

Brenda’s Rating: *** 1/2 (3 1/2 out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Marian, Lauren and Sharon

Book Study Worthy? Yes

Read in ebook format.