Doctor-novelist Moody (Best Friends
) again zooms in to examine the many facets, features and fissures of a relationship, this time in the story of Genie Toledo, an Ohio cardiologist who has a 12-year-long affair with a married college basketball coach. From medical technology to billing bureaucracy, saving lives to losing patients, Moody shows the demands of medical practice and then treats readers to an almost equal display of insight into the world of college basketball as Genie's lover, Mick Crabbe, prods and nurtures his team to national prominence. Their time together expands from a weekly two-hour tryst after Mick's daughter becomes Genie's patient. Mick's wife further complicates matters when she begins confiding in Genie. And when Mick is diagnosed with cancer, Genie becomes further enmeshed with his family. Moody probes new layers of emotion and personal connection as Genie the heart doctor comes to understand the intangible aspects of the human heart. Instead of applying the clichés of traditional romance to a midlife heroine, Moody introduces readers to a woman who never stops learning about work, family, people and possibilities. (Aug.)
