In Case of Emergency

June 1, 2020
A promising career in neuroscience ended for Charlotte Knopfler, the protagonist of this plodding mix of medical thriller and police procedural from the pseudonymous Scott (The Woman Inside), when she was partially blamed for a patient’s death. Now she practices acupuncture, sharing a Long Island, N.Y., office space with her best friend, a masseuse, and participating in an online support group for trauma survivors. Charlotte remains upset about her aborted medical career, but she’s especially worried about the disappearance of Peter Stanton, her mysterious new boyfriend, whom she has never met in person. Their relationship has been forged through texts and emails, often in code, since Peter says he works undercover for the government. Then, the police ask Charlotte to identify the body of a woman, who named Charlotte as her emergency contact, though Charlotte has never met her. When Charlotte becomes a suspect in the murder, she launches her own rather insipid investigation. Charlotte’s emotional fragility rings true, but her naive if not downright silly actions stretch credulity. Genre fans can safely take a pass. Agent: Christopher Schelling, Selectric Artists Literary & Talent Management.

July 1, 2020
Once an up-and-coming surgeon with a promising career in neuroscience ahead of her, Charlotte Knopfler now practices acupuncture. She shares an office with massage therapist Rachel Sherman, who has become her best friend in her new life, in which she worries about her mysterious and often absent boyfriend, Peter Stanton. But Charlotte's life is truly upended when a young woman who dies mysteriously is found carrying a card listing Charlotte as the person to contact in case of emergency; but Charlotte has never seen the woman before. It all ties back to a tragic death in surgery years before, the situation that caused Charlotte to leave the practice of traditional Western medicine. Alternate chapters are told from the points of view of Charlotte, Rachel, and the two detectives pursuing two current deaths linked to Charlotte. This second whodunit by Scott (the writing duo of Elizabeth Keenan and Greg Wands), which follows The Woman Inside (2019), is a little choppy in plot presentation but builds its twisty way to a suspenseful climax.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)