Compound Fractures

June 17, 2013
At the start of bestseller White’s engrossing 20th and final novel featuring Boulder, Colo., psychologist Alan Gregory (after 2012’s Line of Fire), Gregory gives evasive answers to his new, inexperienced therapist, Delilah Travis, when she asks him about witnessing Diane, his professional partner and best friend, shooting his wife Lauren, an attorney. Meanwhile, Boulder cop Sam Purdy, another friend of Gregory’s, may be leaving him at the mercy of a vindictive Boulder County DA, who is Lauren’s boss and who considers Gregory a suspect in three murders. The shocking finale confirms White’s central metaphor, drawn from the local story of tightrope walker Ivy Baldwin, who frequently crossed a half-mile canyon on a wire without a net and sometimes at night: life for the tormented psychologist is a fearful balancing act, where the only absolute is his desire to protect his children. He may survive, but at what cost to his soul? Agent: Robert Barnett, Williams & Connolly.

August 1, 2013
Dr. Alan Gregory's 20th brush with crime is his last. Ever since White announced on the publication of Line of Fire (2012) that he was wrapping up the Boulder psychologist's caseload, it's been clear that the series would go out with a bang rather than a whimper. Fans who read that last installment will recall that Alan's ex-patient Michael McClelland, now doing time for murder, had sent a proxy killer to Boulder; Alan's partner, Diane Estevez, had shot his wife, prosecutor Lauren Crowder, in the back; and Alan had traced Diane's husband Raoul, a wealthy venture capitalist, to a dark, far-reaching conspiracy. All these problems are compounded by a pair of excavations. One of these is literal: A demolition worker finds a .38 caliber handgun suspended inside the chimney of a house he's been knocking down. The other is metaphorical: Alan begins a series of sessions with inexperienced Dr. Delilah Travis, whom he's chosen specifically because she's one of the few therapists in the area he doesn't know. What mainly emerges from both the investigation and the sessions that follow are the epic difficulties Alan's had in trusting any of the most important people in his life: his late wife; his old partner; his new therapist; his longtime friend, Boulder detective Sam Purdy; and his attorney and former patient, Kirsten Lord. By the time the kitchen-sink plot has linked Lauren's office to cover-ups involving everything from a 12-year-old shooting to Osama bin Laden's nephew, readers will be convinced that every citizen in Boulder has put in hours on Alan's couch. This entire final installment, in fact, is structured like a marathon therapy session, with all parties constantly hinting at buried revelations that are only gradually brought to light. Fans sad to see the saga end will be enthralled by its daring crescendos; newcomers are likely to find the proceedings impenetrable.

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July 1, 2013
This is the twentieth and final Alan Gregory mystery. It opens soon after the end of Line of Fire (2012) and finds the Colorado psychologist's life in disarray: his wife, Lauren, was seriously wounded in an attempt on her life; his practice is shrinking, adversely affected by the publicity surrounding recent events; and someone has surfaced with key evidence in an old case that could put Alan and his friend, police detective Sam Purdy, behind bars. Unlike many long-running series, which sort of just peter out, this one is coming to a deliberate conclusion. But this is no neat wrap-up of the psychologist/sleuth's story: at the book's end we feel that Alan's life is simply veering off in a new direction, to a place where we will not be permitted to eavesdrop. This is an excellent wrap-up to a consistently excellent series, but it may be, at least for some readers, a difficult book to read, because finishing it means saying goodbye to an old friend. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: White's Alan Gregory series has had a long and very successful run, and its publisher will be pulling out all the stops to ensure that Gregory goes out with trumpets blaring.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)