Part of Alex Delaware, book 4
First published 2003
Psychologist Alex Delaware attends a party for a controversial Los Angeles sex therapist. There he spots Sharon Ransom, the beautiful woman who abandoned him over ten years ago. Sharon approaches Alex with cryptic pleas for help, but he pulls away from the encounter. The next morning brings terrible news: Sharon is dead, apparently by her own hand. Guilt consumes Delaware. He cannot escape the feeling that he failed her when she needed him most. Delaware begins investigating Sharon's final days. His search leads him into the lavish mansions of California's wealthy elite. He uncovers disturbing secrets buried in a family's history. The deeper he digs, the more he realizes Sharon's death connects to childhood trauma that never healed. Delaware must navigate dangerous territory where old wounds still control the present.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, psychological-thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: second-chance, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Los Angeles, California
Period: Present Day
484 pages · Paperback · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: mental-illness, suicide