Dante's Wood

November 5, 2012
Near the start of Raimondo's engaging debut, Chicago psychiatrist Mark Angelotti receives a visit from the parents of 18-year-old Charlie Dickerson, who has the mental age of a grade schooler and has been crying in the middle of the night at his care facility, the New Horizons Center. Charlie's well-heeled parents fear that Charlie has been abused at New Horizons. The psychiatrist, who's still reeling from a diagnosis of a degenerative eye disease, doubts abuse, but he soon faces a bigger problem after Charlie confesses to the murder of the center's art teacher, Shannon Sparrow. Accused of malpractice and fearing the effect of imprisonment on Charlie, Angelotti begins to look into the backgrounds of Shannon and her co-workers. Angelotti's smart-aleck tendencies and unswerving dedication to his vulnerable clientâas well as an exciting climaxâkeep the reader turning the pages. Agent, Sharlene Martin, Martin Literary Management.

Starred review from December 1, 2012

Charlie, a developmentally disabled adult, loves his art teacher, Shannon. But then Shannon is murdered and Charlie is holding her body when the cops show up. Conveniently for the authorities, he confesses to the crime. Further complicating the situation, Shannon was pregnant and DNA says Charlie was the father. But Mark, a psychiatrist who is blind and who has counseled Charlie and his family before, strongly believes the man has been framed. Determined to do right by his young patient, Mark embarks with zeal on an amateur sleuthing mission. He learns that Shannon was quite opportunistic and had a bucketful of enemies. The real question is how well Mark can maneuver through the streets of Chicago without getting killed, too. VERDICT Raimondo's ambitious first-person-narrator debut tackles a taboo topic head-on. Her blind psychiatrist character (with oodles of guilt issues) is a real keeper. The plot's unexpected twists and turns overcome the author's occasional lecturing. This would pair well with Gerald Elias's series featuring blind sleuth Daniel Jacobus (Death and Transfiguration) and also with Jon Mills's The Ronnie Gene.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2012
Still reeling from a late-onset genetic disorder that's left him blind, Windy City psychiatrist Mark Angelotti is assigned to assess Charlie Dickerson, a developmentally disabled youth allegedly molested by a teacher. Just days after dismissing the allegation, Angelotti is shocked to learn that Charlie has confessed to the teacher's murder. When the defense hires him to testify on Charlie's behalf, Angelotti's colossal ego rears itself in a sparring match with the prosecution that gravely wounds the case. Motivated by guilt, barely acknowledged curiosity about the world of the disabled, and the aforementioned ego, Angelotti begins his own hunt for the killer. Angelotti's perspective offers a fascinating exploration of daily life for the blind, illustrating adaptations to familiar routines and gadgets, as well as takes on hotly contested philosophies about the blind. Some crime-fiction fans will be disappointed in the plotline's predictability, which falls short of the high standard set by Raimondo's character development and seamless weaving of fact into fiction. Book groups will appreciate this debut's strengths beyond the whodunit, especially the numerous discussion opportunities surrounding loyalty, family, and redemption.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)