Compound Fractures

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. (Aug.)