If I Should Die [Paperback]

Judith Kelman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1993

Maggie Lyons is a psychiatrist at a New York hospital whose speciality is persuading patients to defeat their obsessions by confronting their fears. Her programme is jeopardized and her patients revealed at risk when several former patients are killed through reckless disregard of their old fears.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Suspected killer Theodore Macklin, who's afraid of heights, takes a swan dive off a bridge in Rhode Island. Gail Weider, an angst-ridden New Yorker who fears the open road, drives her Chevy wagon at high speed to her death. What do these two disparate souls have in common? They both had consulted Maggie Lyons, a cute-as-a-button Manhattan psychiatrist who runs a phobia clinic. Maggie becomes the target of a state probe when her patients croak by the very demons that had brought them to her for therapy. But only Sam Bannister, a divorced bounty-hunting gumshoe, suspects Maggie isn't responsible. He also has the sense to see that the ambitious "lady shrink" is in danger from one of the tedious nut cases that crowd Kelman's ( The House on the Hill ) seventh mystery. The most interesting neurotic is Maggie's guilt-inducing mother, Francine. But Kelman is too busy reheating psychological cliches to explore character with any depth. At novel's end, Maggie subdues her would-be murderer and says to Sam, "He hated me for curing his phobia. He blamed me for his mother's death. It's so crazy." "Good diagnosis," Sam agrees. It isn't.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

Fear made their hearts race, palms sweat, breaths come in panicked gasps. Dr. Maggie Lyon's phobia patients sat in their therapy group, imprisoned by their own secret terrors, depending on her to set them free . . . "The bridge was just a few steps away, and Macklin felt himself running toward it, no longer afraid--even when he climbed up on the railing, even when his scream echoed as he tumbled all the long way down. The speedometer climbed toward 100, and the driver squealed in delight. She never be teased about being "The Snail" agian as she raced down the highway toward the sharp curve and a fiery dive to death. Dr. Maggie Lyons felt a chill when she heard about the suicide and the accident. Two of her patients were dead, and the authorities believed she was to blame. Unless someone had murdered them. Detective Sam Bannister thought so, and now Maggie felt the growing threat of someone in the darkness . . . someone who knew her weakness . . . someone waiting to unleash the dear that kills. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 343 pages
• Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd (November 15, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0434386529
• ISBN-13: 978-0434386529
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,679,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great reading, April 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: If I Should Die (Mass Market Paperback)

Unexpected twists added a lot and kept me guessing, which is always fun. Believable tension mounted from several directions, squeezing the good doctor toward a satisfying ending. I liked the characters, and the sharp, clever writing made the entire read enjoyable.