In the early morning, psychologist Abby Franklin is awakened by an hysterical telephone call from a former patient. Fearing for the woman’s health, unable to contact her from the information in her records, Abby contacts one of the family members in the woman’s file. Her brother, Derrick Claiborne, reveals that his sister Sharon made the call from a hospital where she has been confined for a few weeks due to a psychotic break following a problem with drugs. Abby is shocked and disturbed by this information, but as there is nothing she can do, she tries to assure herself that Sharon is receiving the care she needs and to put it out of her head. She is shocked to read, a few weeks later, of Sharon’s suicide.

Also shocked is Sharon’s other brother, Steve Claiborne, who hasn’t seen his sister in the last few years. He puts his gun-running and smuggling in the Far East on hold to fly back to the States for the funeral and answers.

Steve and Abby get off to a rocky start when he accosts her at the funeral, accusing her of malpractice, and later when he steals her file on and session tapes with his sister. He discovers that Abby has a lot of information about him that he’d rather she didn’t, and he’s about as uncomfortable with that as with the knowledge he was wrong about her. Despite their reservations about each other, they share the same goal of finding out the circumstances leading to Sharon’s death.

While the story in itself is pretty straight-forward and even somewhat predictable, there was something about the characters… The book gets 5 stars for producing an emotional throat-tightening response in this jaded reader—more than once.

This is York’s [pseudonym] first novel for Intrigue, and the beginning of the very long-running 43 Light Street series. I’ve read and enjoyed a few of the later books in this series and wanted to start over from the beginning. 43 Light Street is the address of the building which houses Abby’s office. Other characters at the same address include a crusty superintendent with a gambling problem, a soft-hearted lawyer with a troubled marriage to an ambitious doctor, and a spunky female PI who plays a big role in helping uncover the secrets surrounding Sharon’s death. I’m so looking forward to more that I’ve hunted down and ordered most of the books in the series that I don’t have. I’m now looking forward to #155 Shattered Vows, ISBN 0-373-22155-X.

Solid author. Good read. Recommended. ( )

Love eternal...murder infernal

There seemed to be something very odd about the Sterling Clinic...and when her former patient died in an apparent suicide, psychologist Abby Franklin determined to find out what.

Abby locked horns with the dead woman's brother, Steve Claiborne - untamed as a panther and twice as fierce. But Steve's accusations of malpractice suddenly gave way to equally intimidating warnings that Abby had only exposed the tip of a dangerous iceberg. For her own sake, Abby had to discover the deadly nature of their adversaries - and of their unholy business. But it is for Steve's sake that she risks her life - for he has become the next intended victim of the killer clinic.

In this first 43 LIGHT STREET tale, bestselling Rebecca York spins a thriller of death...desire...and destiny.-- Intrigueauthors.com