Dante's Dilemma
Lynne Raimondo
Prometheus/Seventh Street Books, Aug 4 2015, $15.95
ISBN: 9781633880429
Chicago police arrest Rachel Lazarus for the murder and mutilation
of her husband University of Chicago Sociology Professor Gunther Westlake who
died in his home by one of his prized chef knives. Confessing to mariticide, Rachel claims Battered
Woman Syndrome after insisting she suffered years of spousal abuse.
His antagonistic new boss assigns legally-blind psychologist Dr.
Dante Mark Angelotti to assist the recently elected State Attorney for Cook
County Linda O’Malley. He will testify
as an expert after he finishes the evaluation of the accused started by the
late Dr. Bradley Stephens, who died in a hit-and-run. Struggling to understand Stephen’s’ confusing
final notes, Mark finds Rachel’s history similar to his own past. In spite of the defense attorney being his
former girlfriend and the prosecutor treating him as a hostile expert, Mark’s
testimony is the final nail in Rachel’s conviction. Still with Rachel’s daughter missing and
learning of an identical murder, Mark wonders if the convicted protects someone
else with her confession. Also turning
paranoid re his predecessor’s demise and attacks on him; Mark wonders if his
boss or O’Malley wants to insure Rachel takes the fall at the cost of
Angelotti’s reputation and perhaps much more.
With a nod to Illinois bipartisan patronage politics, the third
Dante legal thriller (see Dante’s Wood and Dante’s Poison) is an exhilarating
twisting tale especially when the storyline focuses on the law as it pertains
to PTSD. Angelotti's non-professional
life is a mixed bag as his childhood relationship growing up with a widower
father shines a light on his personal and legal feelings re PTSD; while the
protagonist’s custody fight detracts from the excellent case.
Harriet Klausner
