Part of Alex Delaware, book 18
First published 2005
Psychologist Alex Delaware gets a call from homicide detective Milo Sturgis about a grisly double murder. A young couple lies dead in their car on a secluded lovers' lane in the Los Angeles hills. Both victims suffered single gunshot wounds to the head, but the woman was also impaled with a metal spike. The male victim is Gavin Quick, a troubled man who sought therapy before his death. The woman remains unidentified. Delaware enters the case to explore the psychological dimensions that standard police work cannot reach. His investigation leads him to Dr. Mary Lou Koppel, a celebrity psychologist who refuses to discuss her deceased client. When a second murder follows the same brutal pattern, Delaware realizes his probe has triggered the killer. He traces Quick's final days and uncovers a web of greed and corruption within the therapy profession. Delaware must navigate territory that challenges everything he believed about his own field.
Genres: mystery, crime, detective, psychological-thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-detective, psychological-suspense
Setting: Los Angeles, California
Period: contemporary
497 pages · Paperback · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: violence