Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* London psychotherapist Frieda Klein is just regaining her equilibrium after a terrible summer (Friday on My Mind, 2016) when shadowy consultant Walter Levin asks for her help. As part of an undercover investigation into DCI Ben Sedge, Klein is to interview Hannah Docherty, who has been confined to a mental institution since being convicted of murdering her mother, stepfather, and younger brother 13 years earlier in a case led by Sedge. Klein finds Hannah in dreadful condition, having been abused physically by other inmates and mentally by prolonged periods of solitary confinement. Inconsistencies in the long-closed case prompt Klein to probe further, and the murder of a blogger obsessed by the case further leads the dogged psychotherapist to believe Hannah innocent. As the Docherty case comes to an ironic ending, Klein finds the elusive serial killer Dean Reese, her quasi-protector, who murders presumably on her behalf, inserting himself into her life again. Each of the suspenseful Frieda Klein books (starting with Blue Monday, 2012) can stand alone, but they are best appreciated as a series that is remarkable for its empathy and psychological depth. Fans will await Sunday (and the series' ending?) with anticipation and apprehension--Leber, Michele Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
French's suspenseful but clumsily plotted sixth Frieda Klein thriller (after 2015's Friday on My Mind) finds the London psychotherapist under pressure from shadowy power brokers to stick her nose into one of the country's most notorious crimes. They ostensibly just want her expert opinion on whether Hannah Docherty, convicted as a teen 13 years earlier for the slaughter of her family, seems likely to challenge the verdict now that irregularities have been discovered in another, related murder probe. Appalled by the condition in which she discovers a clearly brutalized Hannah at the notorious Chelsworth forensic facility, Frieda does a bit of digging-and starts to suspect the young woman was framed. That suspicion becomes a virtual certainty when a key source is killed. As compelling as the puzzle and principal characters are, French (the husband-wife writing team of Sean French and Nicci Gerard) stumbles with a secondary story line involving a serial killer carried over from earlier books and a few preposterous final plot twists. Agent: Joy Harris, Joy Harris Literary Agency. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Pressed to investigate a suspect cop's handling of an ancient case, psychotherapist Dr. Frieda Klein ends up finding out a whole lot more.Geoffrey Lester may have been a career criminal, but it looks as if he didn't commit the murder DCI Ben Sedge happened to pinch him for. So now, impossibly well-connected Walter Levin, whom Frieda owes a big favor, wants her to look into Sedge's handling of the case of Hannah Docherty, who's spent nearly half her life in Chelsworth Hospital after her conviction for the murders of her mother, stepfather, and younger brother. The one thing Frieda learns from her dead-end interview with Hannah is that she's been irreparably damaged and rendered virtually speechless, though it's impossible to tell whether the trauma she's suffered was a cause or an effect of the guilty verdict and her hellish confinement. A stunning new development confirms Frieda's dawning belief that Hannah is innocent, but that's exactly what Levin and Jock Keegan, his ex-cop investigator, don't want to hear; they're looking for evidence against Sedge, not the reopening of a case so old and painful that nobody wants to talk about itnot Hannah's father; not her old neighbors; not the rebellious circle of friends and lovers who haven't troubled to pay her a visit for 13 years. The only enthusiast is online conspiracy theorist Erin Brack, whose wholehearted embrace of Frieda's efforts ends in disaster. As if to remind Frieda that old wounds aren't the exclusive property of Hannah Docherty, her two personal demons, sociopathic killer Dean Reeve and vindictive profiler Hal Bradshaw, both emerge once more from the shadows, determined in their very different ways to blight her life. A welcome return to form after the heroine's overwrought, undernourishing last adventure (Friday on My Mind, 2016), even if the continuing villains smack more than ever of a soap opera that just won't end. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
