Tuesday's Gone

January 7, 2013
In the pseudonymous French’s eerie sequel to 2012’s Blue Monday, strong-willed but brittle London psychotherapist Frieda Klein once again assists Det. Chief Insp. Malcolm Karlsson, this time in piecing together a murdered conman’s true identity. After a social worker finds a decaying corpse in her client Michelle Doyce’s run-down apartment, Karlsson asks Frieda to interview the severely mentally ill woman. Her cryptic sayings eventually lead to Frieda identifying the woman’s grisly souvenir as Rob Poole, an enigmatic man with no apparent life beyond the extensive network of people he’d befriended, seduced, or otherwise manipulated into his confidence. Karlsson, meanwhile, faces impending budget cuts in the department, as Frieda deals with lingering suspicions that the previous volume’s villain is still out there. Despite sometimes thin characterizations, French—the husband-wife writing team of Sean French and Nicci Gerard—seamlessly mixes a foreboding tone and deliberate pacing with deft plot twists that should leave readers pleasantly chilled to the bone. Agent: Joy Harris, Joy Harris Literary Agency.

January 15, 2013
Still haunted by the bizarre events in Blue Monday (2012), London psychotherapist turned police consultant Frieda Klein investigates the murder of an enigmatic con man whose naked, decomposing body is found in the home of a mentally ill young woman. The woman, Michelle, who speaks in code, collects things. Frieda, who blames herself for the death of a female student in Blue Monday, the first installment in French's excellent series, is determined to help her. She alone understands Michelle. But though her insight is invaluable to her good-guy supervisor, DCI Karlsson, her tendency to play by her own rules puts her at odds with other cops and makes her an easy media target. A fellow psychologist says Frieda is "losing sight of whether she's a therapist or a detective." While determining the identity of the con man and then piecing together the stories of his victims, including a widow with a leaky roof and a young woman who hires him as a personal trainer, the 30-something Frieda must solve problems that are closer to home. Among them: the neglect of her troubled niece by Frieda's brother and his ex-wife. Writing under the Nicci French pseudonym, married couple Nicci Gerrard and Sean French specialize in examining the things that tear families apart. Reading Blue Monday first isn't a prerequisite to enjoying this book, but it is strongly recommended. The new novel extends the plot of its predecessor, bringing back important characters--possibly including a major baddie Frieda is convinced is lurking in the shadows. And it's always good with a character as fascinating and slow to reveal herself as Frieda--who is bright, caring and conversant but also moody, detached and happiest when walking by herself in unexplored London--to be with her from the start. A fiercely intelligent, multilayered thriller, this book casts its narrative net wider than Blue Monday, making welcome demands on its readers.

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Starred review from January 1, 2013

The second book (after Blue Monday) in the Frieda Klein crime series is set in 2011 during a dreary London winter. Once again psychiatric therapist Frieda Klein is called on by Deputy Chief Inspector Karlsson to help solve a complicated case. A decomposed body has been found in the flat of a deranged woman who collects bits of rubbish left on the banks of the Thames. Who is the man and how did he die? Using her ingenuity and with help from her friends, Frieda learns he was a conman living under an assumed name and, though beloved by many of his victims, was murdered. Bedeviled by issues of identity, fraud, and a master manipulator's multiple victims, the case forces Frieda to confront not only her own dark past and the unsettled lives of her family members but also the disturbing situations of everyone inveigled by the dead man. VERDICT The 16th novel written by husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French starts as a grim psychological thriller in the vein of Dennis Lehane's darker novels and turns into a fascinating puzzle in which character analysis holds sway. Highly recommended for fans of psychological suspense who enjoy a complex protagonist. [See Prepub Alert, 10/28/12.]--Ron Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

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