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SECRETS FROM THE COUCH
by Sandra Levy Ceren
Southern Charm Press, November 2002
244 pages
$19.95
ISBN: 0971483221


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Corey Cohen is a middle-aged Jewish Asian psychologist in San Diego, California. One of her clients, Morgan Heller, is an Assistant District Attorney running for District Attorney. She calls Corey to make an emergency appointment after having an obscene telephone call in which the caller uses information which only Cory and Morgan should know. After Morgan leaves Corey's office, she disappears.

By accident, Corey discovers a small device attached to the bottom of the couch in her office. One of her daughter's friends tells her it is "a miniature microphone, amplifier, and antenna for the narrow band FM broadcasting of voice signals." Now Corey has to decide which of her clients put it there, and why. She hires a P.I., Ben Fortuna, but finds herself bound by the confidentiality requirements of her practice. So she has Ben teach her some basic techniques of investigation. I had some problems with this - she had no idea how to run a credit check, for instance, but she ran her own practice. There are sparks between Cory and Ben, but they don't seem to produce much of a flame. Corey sounds like she'd be happy to take Ben to bed after their first date, or their second; I find this incongruous in her character as otherwise portrayed.

Corey boils her suspect list down to three: Kevin Holloway, Alan Olsen, and Carlos Sanchez. Kevin wants help dealing with the results of growing up in a dysfunctional family, which he feels may have something to do with his "lack of success with women", in spite of his appearance and intelligence. Alan is cheating on his wife, compulsively. Carlos is having problems with his wife Jolene, who cheats on him a lot. He withdraws from her, she seeks attention elsewhere . . . your basic vicious circle.

Somehow, in the process of solving the problem of who put the microphone in her office, Corey loses track of the fact that her client Morgan has disappeared. The press seem to have bought the story that there is a family crisis, although there is no real proof. Corey can't find Morgan's sister Liz to check out the crisis, Morgan's whereabouts, or anything about the problem. So it winds up on a back burner. I felt this was a major flaw in the book.

Without going into too much detail, which would spoil the ending, there is a murder in this book. Corey does solve it, but almost tangenitally in terms of the focus of the story. The murder is part of a sub-plot which eventually connects with the disappearance of Morgan; it isn't the main crime. The focus in the first part of the book is on Morgan, and her disappearance. Then it shifts to trying to figure out who bugged the office. Then it shifts to figuring out who is stalking Corey. Then it shifts back to Morgan, but not very smoothly. I think this could be a much better book if the writer could/would decide where the book is going, and then get it there in a slightly more straight-forward fashion.

Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, February 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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