The Hypnotist's Love Story

March 19, 2012
In Moriarty’s intriguing follow-up to What Alice Forgot, Ellen O’Farrell is a hypnotherapist in Australia who becomes romantically involved with Patrick, a single father and widower with a troubling secret: he has a stalker—ex-girlfriend Saskia. Instead of being disturbed, Ellen is curious about Saskia, wondering who she is, why she’s stalking Patrick, and if she, Ellen, could ever love anyone enough to stalk them for three years. Soon, Ellen discovers more than she was expecting: after three months of dating, she’s pregnant with Patrick’s child; Patrick wants to get married; and Saskia has been a patient of hers (under a pseudonym) since Ellen started her relationship with Patrick. Ellen and Patrick (and his son Jack) move in together, but Saskia doesn’t stop, a problem abetted by Ellen’s inquisitiveness and frustration about Patrick’s comparisons of Ellen to his dead wife, Colleen. As Saskia’s antics become increasingly aggressive, Ellen soon realizes that their bizarre situation has crossed into dangerous territory. Ellen’s voice is compelling and believable, and readers will appreciate Moriarty’s deft conveyance of a potentially trite topic into the realm of good storytelling.

June 1, 2012
Australian Moriarty (What Alice Forgot, 2011, etc.) has managed to combine an infectiously lighthearted romance about a Sydney hypnotherapist with a potentially upsetting examination of a stalker's interior life. In the first scene, an unnamed narrator has come for treatment for mysterious leg pains at the home of the eponymous heroine, Buddhist-leaning but not stereotypically New-Agey Ellen, who uses her powers of hypnotic persuasion to solve other people's problems. Unfortunately, Ellen has been less successful solving her own problems in maintaining relationships. Then she meets surveyor Patrick, a widower, and the rapport is immediate. The romance proceeds swimmingly. Ellen even hits it off with Patrick's 8-year-old son, Jack. There is only one little hitch: Patrick is being stalked by his ex-girlfriend Saskia, who turns out to be the leg pain patient. Chapters take turns showing Ellen's and Saskia's perspectives as events unfold. Ellen, whose self-professed goal in life is self-awareness, tends to overanalyze, but she is also endearingly honest in rooting out her true feelings. Saskia's way of showing up and knowing everything about Ellen's and Patrick's lives creeps her out, but Ellen also finds herself wanting to understand Saskia, especially when Ellen acknowledges her own reaction to Patrick's lingering feelings for his dead wife. She is even drawn toward a gray ethical area in deciding whether to use her powers of suggestion on Patrick. But Saskia is the novel's unexpected heart. Moriarty makes it clear why Patrick, who is refreshingly imperfect as a secondhand Prince Charming, finds Saskia a threatening presence in his life. How far she might go is worrisome. But like Ellen, readers will be drawn to Saskia. She is a predator but also a deeply troubled woman. Moriarty makes sure that any woman who has ever compared herself to a lover's ex or Googled an ex of her own will identify to some degree with Saskia's struggle to overcome what she recognizes is an unhealthy obsession. Amazingly, the effervescent comedy and troubling melodrama combine to create a satisfying beach read, escapist but not unintelligent.

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January 1, 2012

Ellen O'Farrell's new boyfriend is being stalked by his old girlfriend, but no problem! Ellen is a hypnotherapist, and she really wants to meet Saskia. What she doesn't know is that Saskia is already masquerading as one of her patients. Moriarty did well with last year's What Alice Forgot, and this is being positioned as a great beach read, so watch.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2012
Ellen O'Farrell is a successful hypnotherapist with a thriving practice; a new boyfriend, Patrick; and a newly found emotional distance from her unconventional upbringing. Content for the first time in recent memory, Ellen realizes how tenuous her happiness is when Patrick lets her know that his ex-girlfriend, Saskia, has been stalking him ever since they broke up. As a mental-health professional, Ellen realizes that Saskia isn't a violent stalker who needs a restraining order but a jilted former lover who probably just needs a listening ear. But when Saskia's methods of surveillance become more extreme, Ellen has to decide how much longer she's willing to put up with Patrick's former life if she wants to be a part of his future. A witty modern love story in the age of cohabitation, blended families, and second chances, this is a compassionate, absorbing tale. Moriarty (What Alice Forgot, 2011) has crafted an incredibly likable heroine in Ellen, the hypnotherapist who can solve her clients' problems but can't seem to keep her own life from spiraling into soap opera. Readers who enjoy Jennifer Close and Marian Keyes will adore Moriarty's wit and warmth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)