Saturday, December 1, 2012

Dante's Wood-Lynne Raimondo

Dante's Wood


Lynne Raimondo

Prometheus/Seventh Street, Jan 15 2013, $15.95

ISBN 9781616147181



In Chicago, eighteen year old Charlie Dickerson has the mental acumen of an elementary school child. His affluent parents have their teenage son residing at the New Horizons Center. Recently they fear someone abuses Charlie as he has been crying at night. Thus they turn to psychiatrist Mark Angelotti to determine the truth.



Eighteen months ago, Mark learned he suffered from Lever’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy, which is leaving him blind. He interviews Charlie who confesses that he killed the center's art teacher Shannon Sparrow. Knowing incarcerating Charlie would destroy the mentally handicapped teen, Mark investigates the New Horizons Center staff including the late Shannon to see if abuse is prevalent. However, as he faces a malpractice lawsuit Mark is unprepared to learn the deceased was carrying Charlie’s child.



The first Mark Angelotti psychological thriller is a terrific mystery starring a wise-cracking protagonist who uses self-deprecating humor as a defense mechanism enabling him to deal with his degenerative eye condition. The storyline grips the reader from the moment Mark and Charlie meet as the reader learns that the truth will set no one free, but the big lie leaves the needy in a horrible stasis.



Harriet Klausner





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