Some books grow on you. They start off in a leisurely style that just barely holds your interest but never quite gives you an excuse to quit entirely when, inexplicably, you find yourself increasingly interested in who and what's going on. If it's a good book, like Ephron's second Peter Zaks mystery (after 2000's Amnesia), you wind up thoroughly satisfied. Zaks, a forensic psychologist, works at the Pearce Psychiatric Institute, a place of many secrets and much intrigue involving drug research. Fame and fortune await the researcher who publishes first, and some will do anything to avoid being nice guys. In this case, there are two drugs designed to alleviate chronic addiction: one, the hope of a rich pharmaceutical company, the other, the work of an independent researcher, Channing Temple, a former lover of Zaks. When Temple is murdered, her 16-year-old, Ritalin-addicted daughter, Olivia, is caught standing by the body with a gun in her hand. Did Olivia kill her mother? The police would like to think so. Zaks doubts it, and wants to save the kid from both the police and her own bent for self-destruction. A low-key style, a large cast of well-drawn characters, comprehensible medical jargon, as well as a credible solution intelligently arrived at—all add up to a fine novel that should entertain both mystery and medical thriller fans. (Sept. 17)
FYI:Ephron is the pseudonym of journalist Halle Ephron and forensic psychologist Don Davidoff.
