Customer Reviews

Borderline

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Well written, well paced, "Borderline" was an excellent read. The entertaining story is compelling and I was completely surprised by some of the plot twists. The characters were solid, believable and interesting. I will enjoy seeing who is cast in the movie when it's made- it would make a great film!

I recently read an article about a local author, Mark Schorr. He lives in the same basic area of Portland as I do, and he writes crime thrillers. There are two books in his Brian Hanson series, so I thought I'd start at the beginning with Borderline. Wow... A very tight and fast read, made even more interesting given the home town element.

Brian Hanson is a therapist working with some of the city's most forgotten and neglected citizens. Street people, prostitutes, you name it. He has his own issues also, as his time in Vietnam led to PTSD and drug and alcohol abuse. He's gotten clean and sober, but his violent past is only a flashback and a drink away. While he deals with the seamy side of Portland, his wife is a high-powered and upper-crust real estate developer who lives for the deal (and the money). Needless to say, there's a fair amount of tension between them and their two philosophies of life, and the marriage isn't going all too well.

One of Hanson's clients, a prostitute named Tammy, seems to be getting her life slowly turned around. But she's found with a gunshot wound to the head, and the police write it off as a suicide. He's not so sure, and starts digging around to see if perhaps there might not be something more to the story. This "asking around" attracts the attention of the deputy mayor, Tony Dorsey, who also has an interest in the case. Portland's major crime stats are way down compared to other cities, and its his job to make sure it stays that way. Dorsey decides to cozy up to Hanson's wife in order to get some inside information, exert some pressure and influence, and also get her into his bed (and other surfaces). Hanson enlists the help of a young FBI agent, the niece of a client, to see if there's anything to his murder theory. At first, all these separate pieces appear to be unrelated on the surface. But very soon, Dorsey's got Hanson's wife exactly where he wants her (in more ways than one), she's trapped herself into aiding him in his larger goals, and Hanson has to figure out if his life is worth more to him than trying to find the truth about Tammy's death.

As I started reading, the enjoyment of the home town element of the book kept me interested. It's always fun to read a passage and imagine EXACTLY where and how it looks. It didn't take long before Dorsey's secrets and Hanson's suppressed violent persona took over and had me hooked. I burned a whole evening (when I should have been doing something else) finishing up the book, as I didn't want to put it down. And I don't quite know how to explain it, but Hanson's personality evoked strong emotions that caused me to really care about what was about to happen.

As I head out for a getaway at the coast this weekend, the follow-up to Borderline is tucked in my bag. I have no doubt it'll be finished by this time tomorrow...

In Portland, psychologist Brian Hanson talks over the phone with his patient twenty-eight years old parole Tammy LaFleur, who has missed her last two appointments because she insists the men are just outside waiting for her. He warns her that one more missed session and he will report her; she turns angry insisting he does not care. Brian, a recovering alcoholic, feels sorry for himself having to put up with this diatribe.

Not long afterward, Brian feels guilty when he learns Tammy committed suicide. However, as he goes over her time with him, he concludes she was either compliant or defiant, but never suicidal. Fearing he will return to a violent reaction as he has done under pressure since his Nam days, Brian informs his police contact Detective Robert McFarlane to make sure he harms no one as he has a violent history. To satisfy his culpability, he investigates the death of his client, the daughter of the former police chief. When others inside of Tammy's circle die, Brian believes a human wolf is killing people.

Clichéd absolutely! Stereotyped for sure! So what; readers will not be able to put down this exhilarating amateur sleuth investigative thriller. The action never slows down even when Brian's banker wife, fed up with his antics, turns to someone else for solace. The contest between the Wolf and the shrink is fun to follow as both shares so much in common as either one will OVERKILL to achieve their objective.

Harriet Klausner

Portland, Oregon Psychologist Brian Hanson isn't surprised, but he is a bit upset when client Tammy LaFleur fails to show for her counseling session. But then he finds out she's got a very good reason for missing her appointment, she's dead.

The cops want to close the case quickly, calling it a suicide, but Hanson can't buy it, so he does a bit of investigating and finds out Tammy had some pretty close ties to some local law enforcement people. More snooping and more questions arises, then he's warned off, but it'll take more than warnings to stop Vietnam vet Hansen who brought his own share of problems back from that war, like his problems with the bottle. Pile on a shrew of a wife out only for money, who is screwing Hanson over even while she's screwing someone else, and you have a guy with some serious problems. But a guy who isn't about to give up.

Brian Hanson is a great character who isn't above dishing out justice his way in this sometimes painful, but very engrossing thriller. I've been to Portland more times that I can count and didn't know it had a seemy, seedy side. I know it now. Brrr, this is a good book.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

This is one of those books that reads so easily you lose track of time! I got so engrossed in it one night I stayed up 'til 2am!!

I found this book to be well-written and suspenseful, with a clever story line. The author is obviously brilliant, knows mental health issues well, and weaves a wonderful, action-packed story.