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DANTE'S WOOD
by Lynne Raimondo
Seventh Street, January 2013
350 pages
$15.95
ISBN: 1616147180


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Mark Angelotti is that cliché of a psychiatrist who needs his own psychological help. However, that's the only cliché in this first of a series starring Angelotti. As the book opens, he is meeting with his boss about when he'll be coming back to work. Two years ago, Mark was diagnosed with a genetic disorder that robbed him of his sight just after a personal tragedy robbed him of his family. He counts himself fortunate that he chose psychiatry rather than surgery as a medical specialty, but he is nonetheless having trouble coming to terms with his circumstances.

His first step toward regaining his practice is to meet with a couple and their developmentally disabled teen son, Charlie. Charlie has been waking up and crying during the night, and his parents want to find the cause. The parents suspect abuse by a young attractive teacher at Charlie's day care facility, New Horizons. As Mark speaks first with the parents and then with Charlie, he becomes convinced that the problem is caused by Charlie's lack of sexual knowledge, not abuse, and he provides an unusual prescription. When the teacher is later found murdered with Charlie bending over her covered with her blood, Mark doesn't believe Charlie committed the murder and volunteers to serve as an expert witness at Charlie's arraignment. There are hints that "expert witness" may be a future career path for Angelotti. Unfortunately, the prosecuting attorney discounts Mark's testimony, and Charlie's fate seems sealed when DNA links him to the dead woman's unborn child.

Mark, who testified that Charlie was innocent and continues to believe that is true in the face of much evidence indicating otherwise, begins his own investigation of the murder. The plot twists and turns as Mark works to accept his blindness with the help of the blind founder of New Horizons. Mark is no detective, and some of his investigative techniques founder, but he has the reluctant assistance of a policeman investigating the case. In the end, Mark's efforts lead the police to the killer.

The role of DNA in both Mark's condition and the case is very well handled, as is the psychiatrist's attempt to come to terms with his changed life. There are several deeply engaging scenes where Angelotti's blindness plays a key role in building suspense, such as when he finds himself lost and being stalked late at night. And there are equally engaging scenes where the reader is drawn into the circumstances of his blindness and how his life is complicated by them… imagine opening a can of soup and dropping it to have it splatter throughout the kitchen. Raimondo's wonderful writing brings the heart-stopping action to life, and she is just as accomplished at pulling the readers' heartstrings in the personal segments of the book.

The book was as much about Mark Angelotti as a person as it was about his role in solving a mystery. I ended up feeling as though I knew Mark well, (it doesn't hurt that he is called "Mark" throughout the book). The book ends with the mystery of the killer wrapped up, but it leaves the mystery of the ensuing trajectory of Mark's life wide open. I'm looking forward to finding out about the latter in future installments of the series.

§ Sharon Mensing is the Head of School of Emerald Mountain School, an independent school in the mountains of Colorado, where she lives, reads, and enjoys the outdoors.

Reviewed by Sharon Mensing, October 2012

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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