Day of the Dead

April 15, 2018
French closes the saga of consulting psychologist Frieda Klein with the story of a criminology student who, casting around for a topic for her dissertation, chooses "In the Footsteps of Dr. Klein," a choice that turns her life into a nightmare.Lola Hayes has no idea what to write about for her final paper at the University of London's Guildhall College. Her lazy adviser, hearing her say, "I'd much rather write about people than ideas or science," directs her: "You want a person?...Here's a person. Have you ever heard of Frieda Klein?" Lola hasn't, but she reads up on Frieda, talks to her archenemy, Guildhall profiler professor Hal Bradshaw, and eventually tracks her down. That's no mean feat in itself, since Frieda, pursued once more by monumentally patient serial killer Dean Reeve, has gone into hiding, and even her closest friends don't know or won't say where. Apart from his earlier track record, there's good reason for Frieda to fear Reeve, who's started to kill more or less random people in order to flush her out of hiding so she can protect the next innocent. One victim is found after his car crashes through a shop window; another's bicycle is struck by a hit-and-run driver; a third turns up dead on Hampstead Heath. DC Dan Quarry and his new boss, DCI Bill Dugdale, have yet to realize that Dean Reeve is behind the latest round of mayhem. After Frieda agrees to take in Lola, she agrees to meet Reeve alone in a place he's picked, and Lola, frantic to prevent what she sees as Frieda's suicidal acquiescence, acts to protect her. Ungrateful Frieda promises her: "One day you'll want to get in a time machine, come back and stop yourself doing what you did today." If anything, that turns out to be an understatement.Though its climax couldn't possibly live up to the harrowing story it ends, French's legion of fans will rejoice that she's capped her memorable week of thrillers (Sunday Silence, 2017, etc.) with this nerve-shredding eighth day.

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May 7, 2018
French’s eighth and final novel about London psychotherapist Frieda Klein (after Sunday Silence) never rebounds from its sluggish start, in which a car crashes into a store. Behind the wheel is a man who has been dead for several days, the possible victim of serial killer Dean Reeve. The case falls to Det. Insp. Bill Dugdale and his assistant, Dan Quarry, who are soon called to the scene of another bizarre murder. Meanwhile, lazy and uninspired criminology student Lola Hayes, who needs a topic for her dissertation, decides to focus on Frieda and her unusual cases. But Frieda is in hiding, in fear of Reeve, who’s obsessed with making the psychotherapist one of his victims. Once Lola finds Frieda, she learns that Dean has been following her in the hope that she’ll lead him to his prey. More odd murders that appear to be Dean’s work do little to further the overwrought plot. Some readers may wish that French (the husband-wife writing team of Sean French and Nicci Gerard) had ended the series, which started strong, a couple of books back. Agent: Joy Harris, Joy Harris Literary Agency.

Starred review from May 1, 2018
Deconstruct Frieda Klein, a professor advises criminology student Lola Hayes, who's searching for a dissertation subject. Hayes had never even heard of the London psychotherapist notorious for her consulting work with police, yet she throws herself into the project, even managing to find Klein, who had recently vanished with even her closest friends unaware of her whereabouts. Further, Hayes persuades the psychotherapist to take the doctoral student with her to her hiding place just as a rash of bizarre murders begins. Klein soon reasons that the murders are being committed by Dean Reeve, the serial killer whose love-hate obsession with Klein led her to take flight. Hayes is thrown into the middle of the drama when the chameleon-like Reeve kills her flatmate, causing Hayes to cling more closely to Klein as the two of them change hideouts frequently to evade Reeve, who somehow manages to never lose their trail. The husband-and-wife team of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French combine psychological suspense with a form of police procedural in a brilliant cat-and-mouse game that provides the perfect finale for this concluding entry in the celebrated Frieda Klein series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

April 1, 2018

After the weekday-themed Frieda Klein crime novels, from Blue Monday through Sunday Silence, husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French, under the French pen name, end the series with a return to the villain who has stalked the psychoanalyst from the start, the serial killer Dean Reeves. Will he finally succeed in murdering Frieda, driven into hiding by his obsessive pursuit? Complicating matters is a criminology student, scatterbrained Lola Hayes, who latches on to Frieda as the subject of her dissertation, the first step on a path into darkness. Reeves, meanwhile, has begun sending messages, placing murder victims in locations where Frieda likes to walk, using the many submerged rivers that flow beneath London. When Frieda, bedeviled by Lola, seemingly offers herself as a sacrifice to stop the killings, she faces betrayal after betrayal as she comes closer to a final encounter with the deadly master of disguise. VERDICT Fans of this acclaimed series will read with mounting dread as the end approaches. Others should start with the first book, otherwise Frieda's behavior, always strange, might prove perplexing and Lola, who dominates the plot, simply annoying. [See Prepub Alert, 1/22/18.]--Ron Terpening, formerly of Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2018

Psychologist Frieda Klein, who's helped the London police on challenging cases since 2012's Blue Monday, has been hiding out from psychopathic killer Dean Reeve. In this wrap-up to the series, she's got to face him. With a 25,000-copy paperback and 30,000-copy hardcover first printing.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.