Compound Fractures by Stephen White, a Mysterious Review.

Review: Stephen White brings to a close his long-running series featuring psychologist Dr. Alan Gregory in Compound Fractures and let it be said up front that this is not the book readers new to the series want to start with.

The primary storyline, and yes there are several subplots, is centered on Alan, his wife, Assistant District Attorney Lauren, and his good friend (and sometimes adversary) Boulder, Colorado police detective Sam Purdy. Collectively, in one way or another, they have worked together to solve cases over the years but now Lauren has come upon a secret shared by Alan and Sam that could jeopardize either, and most probably both, of their careers. And while she states that she intends to make it public, she is murdered before she can do so. Or so both Alan and Sam believe, though they can't be sure. That lack of certainty leads to a lack of trust between them, especially when Lauren's secrets come to light. And while Alan is certain that the District Attorney is preparing a case against him for murdering his wife, he believes he cannot turn to the person he has always trusted in the past, Sam Purdy.

Long-time readers of the series will appreciate the number of plot threads that are woven throughout this story, revisiting old friends and enemies, re-exploring cases both open and closed. But readers who may have only read one or two of the books in the series may be completely befuddled by what's going on here. On the one hand, it's laudable that the author wants to close the series on his own terms; but on the other, this hardly seems the best way of doing so. The characters are true to themselves, well drawn and likeable in their own way, but the biggest problem is how this story plays out, in a manner that often seems arbitrary and haphazard. For a series that was premised on balance, at work, at home, and with life in general, there seems to be a distinct lack of that here.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Compound Fractures.

Acknowledgment: Penguin Group provided a copy of Compound Fractures for this review.

The Siege
Dutton (Hardcover), August 2009
ISBN-13: 9780525951223; ISBN-10: 0525951229

Compound Fractures

An Alan Gregory Mystery by Stephen White