cover image Dissociated States

Dissociated States

Leonard Simon. Bantam Books, $21.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-553-09586-9

A killer suffering from multiple personality disorder is the moving force of this brisk thriller by a practicing clinical psychologist and novelist ( The Irving Solution ) . Jake Silver and his wife, Claire Baxter, New York psychiatrists whose marriage is cracking, inadvertently discover they are each treating the same patient, or rather, different personalities of the same patient operating under different names. He is Felix Kiehl, a dangerous killer with a history of parent fixation whose many guises include stockbroker, artist and computer nerd. After Kiehl is arrested for insider trading, Claire is enlisted by Kiehl's manipulative attorney to testify on his behalf while Jake advises the prosecution in what becomes the heart of the story--the struggle to determine Kiehl's innocence or guilt. Kiehl's multiple personae present a dizzying array of colorful characters who shift brilliantly from logic to violence to inarticulate ignorance. Other major plot elements develop smartly but are described so quickly that they have no weight behind them. For all the psychology Simon weaves in to make Kiehl's craziness believable, the suspense around his murderous potential is never truly gripping. (Apr.)