In the opening chapters of this latest outing starring Boulder, Colorado, psychologist Alan Gregory, the good doctor is feeling a bit sorry for himself: his wife's MS, utterly unpredictable, is worsening; his clinical business has been anemic since one of his patients was shot to death on national television-- Kill Me, 2006; and he remains haunted by long-held secrets. Just as the novel risks getting mired in this pity party, the story picks up speed when an ex-patient, Michael McClelland, escapes from the state mental institution hell-bent on retribution. No one is safe from this madman--not Alan, nor his wife, Lauren, nor his best friend (and cop) Sam. After all, McClelland tried to kill all three of them ( Privileged Information, 1991) before being declared insane. Secrets are the star here; everyone has them--Alan, Lauren, Sam--and keeping them hidden just isn't working any longer. The big question is, Will Alan uncover the secret that's keeping McClelland on his heels? White's thrillers throw the characters into quagmires and then force them to wade through the psychological muck. Along the way, there's always more than enough suspense to keep readers engaged. --Mary Frances Wilkens Copyright 2006 Booklist

Contemporary cerebral thrillers don't get much better than bestseller White's 15th novel (after Kill Me), which deftly combines complex characterization and intricate plotting. White's debut novel, Privileged Information, introduced Boulder, Colo., psychologist Alan Gregory and the clever but deadly Michael McClelland, a former meteorologist turned killer, whose rampage almost cost Gregory and his wife, Lauren, their lives. In this sequel, while Lauren, a local prosecutor, is absorbed in a sensitive grand jury probe that represents her best chance to demonstrate that she can function despite her MS, Gregory learns that McClelland has escaped from custody and has devised a devious, multilayered revenge scheme against everyone he holds responsible for his incarceration. Almost overnight, Gregory finds his routine existence turned into a Hitchcockian nightmare. Suspected of several murders, he can trust no one. Both established fans and those just now discovering the author's gifts will be turning pages late into the night. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Yet another of Dr. Alan Gregory's ex-patients goes off the rails, threatening the Boulder psychologist, his wife and his best friend with exposure of their darkest secrets. Years ago, after meteorologist Michael McClelland raped and murdered his sister, Alan Gregory (Kill Me, 2006, etc.) testified in a hearing that sent McClelland to a psychiatric ward at Colorado State Hospital instead of the big house. Now McClelland's escaped at just the time things are starting to go seriously wrong in his old therapist's life. He's already estranged from his wife, MS-stricken deputy DA Lauren Crowder, because of her resistance to his pleas that they have another child and her involvement in the hunt for a missing witness she can't talk about. Their relationship turns frigid when the witness's handbag turns up in Alan's office and a police search ordered by his old buddy Det. Sam Purdy reveals blood on his shoe. The blood, Alan knows, is innocuous enough: It comes from his new patient Kol Cruz's nosebleed. Actually, he doesn't know squat. Cruz has disappeared, leaving behind a string of whoppers. McClelland has obviously staked out Alan's house. The cops offer Lauren protection from whoever might have killed her witness, but they obviously don't believe a word Alan says. At length, the trails of the two patients, past and present, cross in a way that makes it painfully clear, as Sam points out, that if Alan really is innocent of the spiraling web of criminal conspiracy, somebody's gone to an awful lot of trouble to make him the patsy. It would be unfair to reveal any of the surprises White detonates down the road with all the craft and patience of a suicide bomber. In a masterful stroke, he even manages to wring additional shock and suspense out of McClelland's surrender to the authorities. Not even an anticlimactic ending can wreck Alan's 15th, and finest, case. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Remember bad guy Michael McClelland from Privileged Information? He's been sprung from the Colorado State Mental Hospital, giving his old psychiatrist, Alan Gregory, cause for alarm. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.