Compulsion is Keith Ablow’s third novel in his series of suspense thrillers featuring psychiatrist Dr. Frank Clevenger. The setting of the novel is the city of Boston and the Island of Nantucket. In Compulsion, narrator Dr. Clevenger is called in to evaluate a 16 year old patient Billy, who is accused of murdering his baby sister by filling her nostrils and mouth with window caulking. Years earlier Billy had been adopted from Russia where he had been physically and mentally abused. Everyone (including his family and the police) are quick to pin this murder on Billy, since he has had problems in the past with uncontrolled anger and killing small animals. However, Billy denies that he murdered his sister and Dr. Clevenger believes him. The novel is slow moving, with many twists and turns: there is another attempted murder, (which is also pinned on Billy); Dr. Clevenger becomes romantically involved with Billy’s mother and Clevenger gets “worked over” by an unknown assailant. In the end, Clevenger reveals the murderer and starts the process of trying to heal the murdered child’s family.
Readalikes: Jonathan Kellerman, Stephen White, Jeffrey Deaver.
Vicki Lever, Babylon Public Library
Best, David. Amnesia
At the age of twelve, Marti Segerson witnesses her sister’s murder. The killer, Vernon Odessa, was never brought to justice for the crime, so Marti spends the next twenty years preparing to find and confront Odessa and to avenge her sister’s death.
Amnesia begins with Marti procuring a job as a psychiatrist at the mental hospital where Odessa is incarcerated. The staff is secretive, the administrators are elusive, and the patients are engaged in mind games. Marti takes so many risks snooping around the hospital that it seems certain her true purpose will be uncovered. There are mysteriously-similar scars on patients’ necks; there are secret tunnels beneath the hospital; evidence of questionable memory testing procedures are apparent; some staff and patients suffer from memory loss; and Odessa is thirsting to kill again.
Amnesia is a truly suspenseful read. It is the kind of book that can be read in one sitting. There are so many twists and turns that the reader feels compelled to read on to find out how it will all work out in the end.
If you like reading suspenseful novels that involve amnesia try Lost by Michael Robotham, Flashback by Jenny Siler, or Left for Dead by Kevin O’Brien. For a suspenseful novel involving hospital administrators try The Society by Michael Palmer. And if asylums are your preference, try Bed of Nails by Michael Slade.
Deborah Formosa, Northport-East Northport Public Library
Coben, Harlan. The Innocent
Matt Hunter’s life has already been blown away once. At the age of 20, he got into a fight outside a party and accidentally killed someone. That momentary lapse of reason cost him 4 yrs. in prison. But when he got out, he set about rebuilding his life. He carved himself a job as a paralegal and married a beautiful woman. The break in the road seems to have only made him a stronger person. However, when he receives a strange video message on his mobile phone and he realizes that a very bad man is following him, his new existence is suddenly in jeopardy. Why is this ex-con following him and who really is this woman he has married? Suddenly Matt can’t trust anybody, least of all those he loves. Rosalie Toja, Brentwood Public Library
Connelly, Michael. The Lincoln Lawyer
Mickey Haller, Los Angeles defense attorney, regularly defends lowlifes but is haunted by how he mishandled the case of possibly innocent Jesus Menendez. (Twice divorced but on good terms with both ex-wives: one of them manages his office and the other is an ambitious assistant DA with whom he shares amorous interludes.) Mickey conducts most of his business from the rear of a Lincoln town car (hence the title). The Lincoln is driven by a client still paying off his debt for Mickey’s defense. The possibility of the “big” case moneywise comes in the person of a young real estate agent with an imperious mother willing to spend any amount to prove her beloved son’s innocence. Mickey and his investigator, Raul Levin, find the “beloved” Louis Roulet may not be what he seems. The plot spirals when Levin is murdered, a connection to the Menendez case arises, and the continuing defense becomes a question of morality as well as a test of Haller’s survival. “After Connelly spends the book’s first half involving the reader in Mickey’s complex world, he thrusts his hero in the middle of two high-stakes duels, against the state and his own client, for heart-stopping twists and topflight storytelling.” (Publishers Weekly).
Read-alikes:
L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy
Inadmissible Evidence by Philip Friedman
The Client by John Grisham
The Associate by Philip Margolin
The Attorney by Steve Martini
Courting Trouble by Lisa Scottoline.
Marie T. Horney, Cold Spring Harbor Library
Coulter, Catherine. Point Blank: An FBI Thriller
This is Coulter’s 10th book in her FBI suspense series featuring the dynamic married duo of Lacey Sherlock and Dillon Savich, a husband and wife law enforcement team. Point Blank weaves both revenge and murder into a fast paced book that juggles between two different storylines. At the start of the story, readers are introduced to Ruth Warnecki, also an FBI Agent and a colleague of the series main characters Sherlock and Savich. Ruth is caving and looking for buried treasure but as it turns out is in the wrong place at the wrong time. The story then cuts to Sherlock and Savich on a stakeout gone amuck. Coulter moves back and forth between the two FBI cases each chapter. Sharing with the reader not one but two tales of suspense and murder. The stories are between the search for a music student's killer and the hunt for a violent elderly man calling himself Moses who kidnaps and murders an amateur comedian. The cases tie together only by the FBI agents solving them and the theme of criminally insane grumpy old men -without giving too much away! Coulter creates a nice mixture of suspense and thrills while also appealing to readers looking for sympathetic characters and happy endings.
Neely McCahey, Rogers Memorial Library
Du Maurier, Daphne. Rebecca
Du Maurier’s 1938 novel is the story of a naive working-class woman whom the recently widowed Maxim de Winter meets in Monte Carlo, quickly marries and takes back to his palatial family mansion, Manderly, located in the south of England. There the second Mrs. de Winter discovers that she must compete with the memory of the former mistress of the house, Rebecca, whose qualities are in dramatic contrast to those of the unsophisticated newcomer. From the minute she arrives at Manderly, Maxim’s bride feels a unpleasant presence in the house and it’s not just that macabre housekeeper Mrs. Danvers!
Eventually the bride comes to learn that she need not be jealous of Rebecca; it turns out that Max hated his first wife. Not only did he hate her; he confesses to her that he actually killed Rebecca and sank her body and her boat in the inlet not far from Manderly. Du Maurier goes convincingly from the supernatural to the harsh reality of a deed done in anger. The setting is so crucial to the story that the book begins and ends with Manderly.
Read-alikes:
Wilkie Collins
Catherine Cookson
Victoria Holt
Susan Howatch
Kathleen Carter, Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Library
Flynn, Vince. Transfer of Power
Through scrupulous planning, Arab terrorists seize control of the White House taking more than 100 hostages. The President is safely hidden, incommunicado, in a bunker in the basement. With the weak willed, power hungry Vice President taking charge, there is an inevitable clash of wills between politicians and the military. Special agent Mitch Rapp, a modern day, American James Bond, saves the day in this political thriller filled with intrigue and spy gizmos. Those loving action and politics will enjoy this, the first in a series about Mitch Rapp.
Read-alikes: Fans of Tom Clancy and David Balducci will have fun.
Karen Jaffe, Comsewogue Public Library
Gerritsen, Tess. Vanish
Boston medical examiner, Dr. Maura Isles hears a noise in the morgue’s cold room, she hears another noise, begins to check the body bags and finds a “corpse” who opens her eyes. As if that isn’t enough of a shock, shortly after being rushed to the hospital, while still in ICU the woman murders a security guard and takes six hostages. One of the hostages is Detective Jane Rizzoli, a pregnant policewoman. While Dr. Isles and Gabriel Dean, Jane’s FBI agent husband begin to dig for solutions to the crisis, Federal agents take over the case. Apparently this is no ordinary hostage crisis. Who is the mystery woman and why are the feds interested in her?
This is a tense, fast paced, action packed medical suspense thriller. Tess Gerritsen is a retired physician and brings an insider's medical knowledge to her novels. Reviewers have praised her medical detains as vivid and authentic and her suspense as fast paced and unrelenting.
Read-alikes:
Medical Suspense: Michael Palmer, Peter Clement, Robin Cook and Eileen Dreyer
Iris Johansen - Eve Duncan forensics thrillers
Joanne Genovese, Smithtown Public Library
Johansen, Iris. Final Target
The U.S. president’s seven-year-old daughter, Cassie, is trapped in a nightmare world after escaping a violent kidnapping attempt in France. The little girl is placed in the care of Dr. Jessica Riley, who brought her own sister, Melissa, back from a catatonic state and now hopes to do the same for Cassie. Melissa, a student at Harvard, is impelled by her dreams to visit Jessica at their home in Virginia where she becomes involved with her sister’s newest patient. The little girl and the Riley household are sheltered from the press by a small army of Secret Service agents, but they can’t keep Cassie’s savior, the mysterious Michael Travis, away. The president acknowledges his help but sees him as a threat because he’s an internatinal thief and his true motivation is unclear. The president requests that Travis be kept away from the child. Against the president’s orders, Jessica decides to involve Travis in her treatment; when he needs to go to Amsterdam for a secret business deal, he takes all three gals with him in a well-orchestrated escape from the Secret Service. This leads to a bloody pursuit by Travis’ associates, the kidnappers, and the Secret Service. Johansen has cleverly merged elements from one of her old romances, The Wind Dancer (1991), with this newest thriller, resulting in a winning page-turner that will please old and new fans alike.
Read-alikes:
Catherine Coulter
Tami Hoag
Linda Howard
Barbara Michaels
Sandra Brown
Joy Fielding
Kay Hooper
Mary Stewart
Phyllis Whitney.
Rhea Pollock, Brentwood Public Library
Joss, Morag. Funeral Music
After world renowned cellist Sara Selkirk discovers the body of museum director Matthew Sawyer, she collaborates with Inspector Andrew Poole who is in charge of the case. Poole who is unhappily married is also an amateur cellist to whom she is giving lessons! Solving the murder and her romantic interest in Poole help her to recover from a breakdown she suffered after the death of her lover. The supporting cast of characters is a bloody-awful lot although they seem perfectly normal.
Although Joss’ debut was hailed by P.D. James and compared by some critics to Ruth Rendell, it is fair to classify it as suspense-lite. The duplicitous characters and the violence behind their public persona provoke anticipation beyond the usual murder mystery plotting. The psychological details behind their actions propel it into a suspenseful read.
Read-alikes:
P.D. James
Ruth Rendell
Aptly named, Intensity by Dean Koontz is one of the most riveting suspenseful reads I have experienced. Chyna Shepherd joins her friend for a country getaway but it soon turns into a terrifying struggle to survive. After they have retired for the night, Chyna hears muffled noises down the hall and sensing danger she climbs under her bed. Soon a dark figure enters her bedroom and stands over the bed; Chyna holds her breath remaining deathly still; then he leaves. Hours later Chyna emerges and finds her friend has been brutally murdered in her bed. The suspense builds as Chyna attempts to find her friend’s killer and ultimately finds herself fleeing for her life.
Peggy McCarthy, Smithtown Public Library
Lindsay, Jeffry P. Dearly Devoted Dexter
Dearly Devoted Dexter is the second in a series (Darkly Dreaming Dexter, 2004) that features Dexter Morgan, a charming monster who only kills bad people. Dexter works for the Miami police department as a blood spatter expert, and channels his “dark passenger” by targeting other serial murderers. Dexter is smart, funny, and likes children, yet is perplexed by human emotions: he knows he is not normal! It was Dexter’s foster father, a police detective, who recognized Dexter’s psychotic propensities and taught him the vigilante method that has made him something of a service to his community. The story is well-written and fast paced, with a vivid depiction of Miami’s scenery, and contemporary life.
Readalikes:
N.M. Kelby’s Whale Season, which is about a second generation Cuban-American doctor who thinks he’s Jesus and is a serial killer.
Triggerfish Twist, Hammerhead Ranch Motel, and Florida Road Kill, all by Tim Dorsey, are reminiscent of Elmore Leonard and feature Serge Storms, a goofy serial killer.
Suzanne McGuire, Commack Public Library
McNaught, Judith. Every Breath You Take
Mitchell Wyatt, is a fabulously good-looking, incredibly wealthy, Oxford-educated, in touch with his feelings yet super macho, jet-setting, international business tycoon. Let’s get real here, how many guys are really like this?
Mitchell, a bastard son of the high-society Wyatt family, was sent away to boarding school in Europe by his father to get rid of him, with his schooling and material needs taken care of by a “mysterious American.” Mitchell never knew he was a member of the Wyatt clan, until his half-brother William shows up one day in London to reveal the truth. When their father falls out of a window and William disappears, Mitchell is the prime suspect. Unaware of the suspicion cast upon him, Mitchell goes to the Caribbean for a little relaxation. While there he meets the beautiful redhead, Kate Donovan, who is grieving the recent loss of her father.
The story is fairly predictable. The emphasis is more on the romance aspect than on suspense, and it’s fairly easy to guess who the real bad guy is. I wouldn’t call this book a page-turner, but the pacing moves along fast enough so you are not bored with the icky romance parts. The characters — cops, lawyers, and scheming family members -- were fairly stereotypical even for this genre. Conclusion -- dopey, but harmless fun.
Read-alikes:
Jude Deveraux
Elizabeth Lowell
P.J. Tracey
Sandra Brown
Jayne Ann Krentz
Bruce Silverstein, Patchogue-Medford Library
Palmer, Michael. Fatal
Good vs. evil in an action-packed medical thriller by bestselling author Michael Palmer. Dr. Matt Rutledge is convinced that the coal-mining company in his West Virginia hometown of Belinda is responsible for the gross skin abnormalities and dementia he’s seen in some Belinda residents. But pathologist Nikki Solari isn’t so sure. Things only begin to make sense when the doctors meet Ellen Kroft, who suspects a new supervaccine, soon to be approved for the public, is at fault.
Read-alikes:
Final Diagnosis by Gary Birken
Positive Match by Tony Chiu,
Lie Still by David Farris
The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen
The Stain by Harry Lee Kraus
Fertile Ground by Rochelle Krich
Gargoyles by Alan Nayes
The Society by Michael Palmer
Some Cuts Never Heal by Timothy Shear
The Center by David Shobin.
Kathleen Scheibel, South Country Library
Roberts, Nora. Blue Dahlia
First in a new trilogy called "In the Garden" Blue Dahlia is the story of
a nursery business and the three women who work to make it successful. Roz
Harper, owner of "In the Garden," Stella Rothchild, and Hayley, a distant
relative of Roz, form a warm sisterhood as they work and live together in the
Harper mansion. Like Roberts's many other trilogies, each novel focuses on one
woman. In this first book, Stella's husband dies suddenly leaving her alone with
her two young sons. She moves from Michigan to the outskirts of Memphis to a
haunted estate owned by Roz. Stella is hired to manage the business and begins
to clash with Logan Kitridge, the nursery's sexy landscape designer. There is
witty banter and sexual tension between Stella and Logan. An element of
paranormal suspense is added by a ghost, the "Harper Bride" who does not approve
of the developing romance.
Readalikes:
For readers who liked the ghostly elements of the story try the
Three Island Sisters mystery series by Nora Roberts and the other gothic tales
like The Scarletti Curse by Christine Feehan and Mistress of Mellyn
by Victoria Holt.
Michelle Epstein, East Northport Public Library
Turow, Scott. Presumed Innocent
This is the first book by Scott Turow. The main character is a public prosecutor named Rozat (Rusty) Sabich in fictional Kindle County in the Midwest. Rusty is second in command to the District Attorney, Raymond Horgan, who is running a losing campaign for re-election. His opponent is a former prosecutor, who will use any weapon in this fight, including an accusation of murder to win. When another prosecutor named Carolyn Polhemus is murdered, Rusty Sabich is accused of the crime on circumstantial evidence. The police are called off the murder investigation when Rusty is indicted.
This is a complicated plot, but it is not hard to follow while you are actually reading the book. The book starts off slowly, giving backgrounds on the various characters, but picks up the pace as soon as the setting becomes the courtroom. Fictional Kindle County is a stand in for Chicago and Cook County, and the author describes the ethnic neighborhoods (Rusty’s father was Serbian), the suburbs, the police stations and downtown sections with authenticity. The office politics and the city politics are exaggerated but believable.
Read alikes include: John Grisham, Lisa Scottoline, Richard North Patterson, and Michael Connelly.
Elizabeth Reade, Mastic Moriches Shirley Community Library
updated May 9, 2006
updated June 18, 2007