"fascinating crime thriller"

Brooke and Tess are identical twin girls born to billionaire Darwin Bishop and his beautifully charismatic wife Julia. They also have two adopted sons, Graham the golden boy and sixteen year old Billy who has been in and out of psychiatric institutions all his life and is known to the local authorities for his violent behavior.

When Brooke unexpectedly dies, Darwin immediately thinks that his son murdered his sister. Nantucket police officer North Anderson isn't convinced that Billy is guilty and brings forensic psychologist Dr. Frank Clevenger on the case. Frank believes that everyone that was in the house except for baby Tess is a likely suspect and he risks his own life to uncover the truth.

The moment one starts reading this fascinating crime thriller one is compelled to finish it in one sitting. Like the protagonist, readers will find it hard, if not impossible, to figure out who killed the infant because all the suspects have motives, meaning and opportunity. Keith Ablow is a gifted storyteller who has written an exceptional tale.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted June 2, 2002

Summary

Dr. Frank Clevenger, a brilliant forensic psychiatrist, is eager to leave the world of the criminally insane behind-until he receives a chilling call. Close friend and former colleague North Anderson, now Chief of Police on the exclusive island of Nantucket, desperately needs Clevenger's help. One of the infant twin daughters of billionaire Darwin Bishop has been murdered in her crib at the family estate. The lead suspect is her adoptive brother Billy, and investigators believe the fugitive teenage sociopath might target the surviving twin. But as Clevenger maps the Bishop family psyche, he uncovers raging emotional and psychosexual dynamics that suggest Billy may be innocent. The killer could be billionaire Darwin Bishop himself, a polished but ruthless entrepreneur. Or perhaps Julia, his stunning socialite wife, is less a grieving mother than a manipulative seductress with dark secrets to hide. Then there is Darwin Bishop's other son, Garret, a top student and star athlete who despises his father for reasons he refuses to reveal. The deeper Clevenger delves into the Bishop family, the more his own emotional demons surface. But finding the truth means he will have to dig deeper still, plumbing the depths of each family member's psychopathology, risking everything-including his sanity and his life. With another infant in mortal danger, Clevenger, lost in the bizarre emotional world of the Bishops, must summon every skill at his disposal to lay the ultimate psychological trap for the real killer, building to a finale you will never forget.