Synopses & Reviews
By the author of The Up and Comer, this superbly paced, hip, Hitchcockian thriller centers on a psychiatrist framed for murder by his patient. Dr. David Remler is a 38-year-old Manhattan psychologist. He's also the author of a bestselling book that explores the fragile line between rational and irrational behavior. He wrote it soon after his wife was killed in a car accident. One afternoon, he takes on a new patient, Samantha Kent, a beautiful woman trapped in a relationship with an abusive, controlling husband. During their sessions, Remler develops more than professional feelings for Samantha. Then, late one night, she calls to say she killed her husband, and intimates she may kill herself. Remler arrives at his patient's home to find a dead man, but no one else. To skeptical police who believe he is the killer, his story doesn't add up. for starters, Samantha Kent is alive and well and looks nothing like the patient who confessed all to him. Remler has been set up--but why? And why, after a trial in which Remler fights for his life, does his adversary keep on coming, maneuvering him into a position where yet another murder can be committed with impunity. With a Chinese-Box plot that evokes Gaslight and the best of Hitchcock--with a hip spin, this is the story of the ultimate frame-up, pitting a master manipulator against an expert in mind games--and with everything at stake.
Synopsis
Howard Roughan's debut,
The Up and Comer, was hailed as one of the most hip and entertaining thrillers of the year. Now Roughan returns at full stride with a scintillating novel of deception that begins when a gifted young psychologist becomes entangled in the life of a beautiful and calculating patient. Nothing can prepare Dr. David Remler for the shocking phone call he receives from a patient named Samantha Kent. Stunned and anxious to help, he rushes out into the Manhattan night to keep a bloody act of violence from spinning further out of control. He knows he is too involved, that he's crossed a line, and that his professional reputation is at stake.
But he has no idea what awaits him at his destination...that he's become a pawn in a very deadly game of revenge. Suddenly the focus of a criminal case that flares into an out-of-control media circus, David has only one shot to clear his name. But first he has to clear up the mystery of his patient, - Samantha Kent. Just who is she? And why did she choose to involve David? Little by little, the outlines of a brilliant plot emerge - and, with it, the horrifying power of a single lie - In this richly textured tale of a man's battle against the mother of all manipulations, the perfect setup is even more diabolical than it looks.
Synopsis
This scintillating novel of deception from the author of "The Up and Comer" begins when a gifted young psychologist becomes entangled in the life of a beautiful and calculating patient. He soon becomes a pawn in a very deadly game of revenge.
Synopsis
Nothing can prepare Dr. David Remler for the shocking phone call he receives from a patient named Samantha Kent. Stunned and anxious to help, he rushes out into the Manhattan night to keep a bloody act of violence from spinning further out of control.
He knows he is too involved, that hes crossed a line, and that his professional reputation is at stake. But he has no idea what awaits him at his destination...that hes become a pawn in a very deadly game of revenge.
Suddenly the focus of a criminal case that flares into an out-of-control media circus, David has only one shot to clear his name. But first he has to clear up the mystery of his patient, Samantha Kent. Just who is she? And why did she choose to involve David? Little by little, the outlines ofa brilliant plot emergeand, with it, the horrifying power of a single lie...
In this richly textured tale of a mans battle against the mother of all manipulations, the perfect setup is even more diabolical than it looks.