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Dr Joe O'Loughlin seems to lead a charmed life. At the age of 42 he has a beautiful wife, a precocious eight-year-old daughter and a practice as a respected clinical psychologist. Suddenly, however, his perfect world has seemingly vanished; he is diagnosed with an incurable, although non-fatal, disease. His wife accuses him of shutting her out, his doctor and best friend is acting strange and Joe is beginning to wonder about one of his patients whom he suspects may be dangerous. However, the worst is yet to come. Joe comes to the attention of the police when a young woman's body is discovered. She was brutally murdered and she is a former patient of Joe's. Ruiz, the detective, quickly becomes Joe's nemesis and Joe soon finds himself in the position of 'assisting the police'. Joe believes he has to investigate; as a trained psychologist, he is a more than fair detective, with his ability to read people, especially their body language. The author is a native of Australia. He spent ten years as a journalist in London and also is known for ghostwriting celebrity biographies. THE SUSPECT is his first fiction novel. While the book is an edge-of-your-seat thriller, I felt it started a little slowly. However, perhaps that fact allowed the development of the characters. Joe is a wonderful character; we get inside his head and feel what he is feeling about his disease, his love for his family and how much he cares for his patients. His wife and daughter are very realistic, Charlie, the daughter, is terrific. It is very easy to picture these three attractive, intelligent people as they banter throughout a meal; or to listen to Julianne and Joe as they interact - sometimes badly. The pace picks up as Joe searches for answers and we get a knockout of an ending with a twist that you don't see coming. Combining all the elements of a thriller, this is also a story of love, trust and the resiliency of the human heart.
Reviewed by Lorraine Gelly, April 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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