From Amazon.com
Forensic psychologist Peter Zak is still plagued by guilt over his failure to save his wife from death at the hands of a criminal angered by Peter's suggestion of an insanity defense at his trial. But he reluctantly agrees to evaluate the mental competence of Sylvia Jackson, whose memory of the events surrounding her boyfriend's murder seems to Peter to have been influenced by the Boston policeman who hasn't left her side since she awakened from a coma weeks after the killing. Although she remembers nothing at first, within a few months she is sure enough of significant details to implicate her former husband, whose lawyer calls on Peter's expertise to challenge her testimony. There's a connection between Sylvia Jackson and Maria Whitson, a private patient referred to Peter by a colleague after a failed suicide attempt, but the full import of it isn't teased out until the penultimate chapter. Meanwhile, the authors do an excellent job of explaining the vagaries of the mind, memory loss, and traumatic amnesia.
Amnesia, a collaboration between a sibling of the writing Ephrons and a Boston-area psychologist, is an engrossing thriller with a complex protagonist well versed in the etiology of false memory syndrome. Peter's mother and Annie Squires, a public defender whose patient affection awakens feelings Peter has buried since his wife's death, are appealing minor characters, and the particulars of the Cambridge setting--sculling on the Charles in a chilly, gray dawn, the memorable taste of a toffee-topped cone from Steve's Ice Cream--are nicely rendered. --Jane Adams
From Publishers Weekly
Boston psychologist and memory expert Peter Zak pits his wits against time and a brain-damaged woman's faulty recollection to prove a man innocent of a gruesome murder in this fast-paced first effort. Zak, still mourning his murdered wife, Kate, is cajoled into taking on a new case with former sidekicks defense attorney Chip Ferguson and PI Annie Squires (who will remind readers, at times, of Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone). Their quest: to show that Sylvia Jackson's memory is as faulty as her accusations against her ex-husband, Stuart, who's in the dock for murdering Sylvia's lover. The plot is compelling, but Zak remains a cipher. We learn only about his "oversized" build and his often distracting yuppie interests. The rest of the characters are similarly pale, except for Sylvia and bulimic Maria Whitson, whose sufferings are brilliantly rendered. Later, Maria's entanglements in the Jackson case are skillfully added to an already complex mystery. The depictions of cognitive testing are definitive and dramatic. Ephron exhibits a tendency toward clich?, however, and the self-important details of Zak's Cambridge lifestyle are intrusive, particularly if compared to the sophisticated "Spenser" standard set by Robert B. Parker. But despite its defects, this debut effort shows promise. If Ephron continues the series, no doubt Zak and his cronies will flesh out, providing mystery lovers with a welcome addition to the genre. Agent, Louise Quayle. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
