Book Review: Addiction

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Addiction     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
G. H. Ephron
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Medical   Thriller
Series: Dr. Peter Zak # 2
St. Martin’s, Sep 2001, $23.95, 304 pp.

It has been a couple of years since the psychopath killed his wife as an act of revenge for Dr. Peter Zak’s testimony against him. The forensic psychologist and teacher is regaining control of his life and is even seeing someone, albeit a bit sporadically.

After Peter and a peer give a lecture to students at the Massachusetts Pearce Psychiatric Institute, psychiatrist Dr. Channing Temple asks for a favor. She wants Peter to help her teenage daughter Olivia, who is withdrawing from the world. Channing already sees a psychiatrist, her mother’s mentor Dr. Daphne Smythe-Gooding, but Peter reluctantly agrees to help for old time’s sake, as Chaining was his college lover. However, instead of a patient, Peter finds Olivia holding a discharged gun with a dead Channing nearby. Daphne insists suicide occurred because of the pressure on Channing due to her research and her clinic work being challenged. Peter takes Olivia under his care even as he begins to apply his investigative skills as a forensic expert to learn what really happened.

The superb second Zak novel allows readers to observe an intriguing type of mental illness while providing a cleverly designed mystery. The story line is filled with action and a few twists to keep the audience alert. Peter is a wonderful character struggling with his guilt while resolving to move on in life and the support cast further hones his personality. With novels like this one and AMNESIA, readers will quickly forget other sub-genre authors as this writing team turns into an ADDICTION.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner