Krishna
This book is probably an earlier work of Sydney Sheldon. The twists and the surprise at the end are all there, but it is a simpler story.
Memories of Midnight, Rage of Angels, and Master of the Game are some of the other books by this author that we have reviewed earlier.
The story first. In the prologue, a tall, thin man, released from the penitentiary, is walking home to his wife Mary when he is murdered in the street by an unknown assailant with a blow to his head.
Carol Roberts was rescued from a life of whoring by Dr Jake Stevens, who taught her self pride, made her graduate from school and took her on as a secretary. Two cops came with a package to see that doctor one day. We learn that the man who died in the prolog (see the first paragraph) was a client of his. They are very skeptical when he claims innocence but then later, take him to the office where he finds that Carol was lying murdered as she worked later and had a mysterious visitor.
McGreavy, the detective finds out that Carol was pregnant from the doctor who did the autopsy and immediately suspects the doctor. But he had a grouse on Jake since his testimony that the man was crazy helped a vicious killer off the death penalty and into a sanatorium. His partner, the more suave Angeli, is less sure that the doctor has any blame.
Now, Jake decides to continue his practice as normal. He sees an executive Harrison Burke, suffers from both paranoia and suicidal thoughts after his family burned in a fire at his home when he was abroad with his mistress.
Anne Blake is so beautiful and so well put together that Jake is in love with her against his professional instincts. She is married and he is even unable to decide what is wrong with her and why she needs his help.
In the meanwhile, Jake himself is the victim of a ‘hit and run’ accident, where in reality the car, with the headlights off, deliberately hit him head on. He also finds, when he is in office late one day that someone is trying to enter the office to kill him. He calls McGreavy who is already skeptical of him. He does not believe Judd as he found both the ‘locked’ doors unlocked and only Judd has the keys to it.
He goes at random to an unimpressive detective in a shabby office. The man himself, Moody, seems overweight. However, he proves his worth immediately by asking Judd to go on a vacation telling everyone that and then stopping him as he gets into the car. He shows that the car has been booby trapped. Now Jack knows that he is not paranoid and that someone is actually trying to kill him indeed.
He tries to listen to all the tapes to see who can be the possible suspect. When he tells McGreavy about Moody, McGreavy gets agitated and warns him not to trust Moody. When Moody calls him to a remote place alone Judd tells McGreavy and when they go there together they find only Moody’s corpse.
He goes to meet the gay partner of a patient and gets punched and loses consciousness. He comes to and goes back to office and brilliantly thwarts two hoodlums who came with the specific purpose of killing him. Now he has to find out who is trying to kill him to be safe. He runs away from McGreavy who was trying to reach him urgently. When in desperation he tries to locate his only friend Ann, he finds that both the phone number and the address she provided him were fake.
He then calls the sympathetic policeman Angeli, who takes him in his car to protect him from what Jake has determined as the Mafia with a group of people targeting him. He finds out that Ann is the wife of a mafia boss. He was trying to hide it from her but she has seen enough. She goes to Jake but is unable to tell him the whole truth. In the meanwhile, she falls for Jake too.
But her husband is terrified that the doctor knows all about his secret which is why he is targeting Jake and has Angeli in his employ. Now the doctor himself has called Angeli and told him where he is, trying to hide from McGreavy, who he thinks is the ‘evil cop’. He is taken to see the mafia don and meets Ann. To save her, he convinces her that she should ‘reconcile with her husband’ but also knows that his days are at end end.
McGreavy, in the meanwhile knows that Angeli is crooked and launches a manhunt for him.
The ending is tense and exciting but predictably good.
An earlier book, the twists are not that complex in this one but still very readable.
7/10
- - Krishna