Roughan,
Howard. The Promise of a Lie. Warner. March 2004. c. 358p.
ISBN 0-446-52943-5. $23.95. Fiction.
Psychologist David Remler
has been framed for the murder of a Wall Street
venture capitalist by a patient calling herself
Samantha Kent, a wife so terrified to leave
her husband that she kills him instead. But
then the real (and grieving) Samantha shows
up, and the terrified patient who claims to
be Samantha disappears, leaving Remler with
his life on the line. Although his fate is
in the hands of a brilliant defense team, all
the incriminating evidence points to Remler.
With stick-thin secondary characters, a far
from original situation (a doctor who gets
emotionally involved with a manipulative patient),
and a plot that hinges initially on the protagonist’s
unbelievably stupid actions (e.g., his failure
to call the cops when informed of a murder
by a person he suspects is now committing suicide),
Roughan’s second novel has a lot to overcome.
That it does—in fact, it becomes an engrossing
read that’s hard to put down—results
primarily from a gripping courtroom battle
that consumes more than half the story. Recommended
for larger public libraries.