Irreparable Harm [Mass Market Paperback]

Lee Gruenfeld (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1994

Police captain Amanda Grant must try to prove that Pamela Jacoby, a troubled young police officer participating in complementary neuroses therapy, did not kill her therapy partner. Reprint. PW.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Rookie police officer Pamela Jacoby has been in therapy since her father, also a cop, was killed in the line of duty. Her obsessive feelings about him and his death are overwhelming, and she suffers paralyzing anxiety attacks whenever she attempts intimacy with anyone. Her therapist suggests a new drug regimen just as she has begun a tentative but promising relationship with Graham MacKenzie. After their first attempt at sex, MacKenzie is found bizarrely murdered and Pamela snaps. The ensuing investigation weaves through an intricate maze of law and psychotherapy with steadily mounting tension to a cleverly crafted conclusion. Though not for the squeamish, this compelling first novel is a worthy addition to the current spate of legal/psychological thrillers. Recommended for most collections. BOMC featured alternative.
- Susan Clifford, Hughes Aircraft Co. Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Psychiatrist Brixton Ferrin attacks his patient Pamela Jacoby's crippling anxiety about men by fixing her up with Mackenzie Graham, another psychiatric patient with a complementary neurosis--he feels unbearable guilt after he was unwittingly conned into killing a man- -only to find the morning after an abortive date sends Pamela into a psychotic episode that Mac has been savagely murdered during the night. Wait, there's more. Pamela, whose revulsion from men (driving her to hours of tastefully detailed masturbation) stems from years of sexual abuse at the hands of her father, the late police officer Wild Bill Jacoby, has become a rookie cop herself, even though she hates the job, in order to live out Wild Bill's life and avenge his murder. So naturally the police chief, sensitive Capt. Amanda Grant, who doesn't want to seem any less idiotic than Dr. Ferrin, includes Pamela on the team investigating the murder even though mountains of evidence indicate that she must have killed Mac Graham. But there's also less- -much less--as endless days and chapters slip away, punctuated only by Pamela's suicide attempt and hysterical confession to the crime and the inevitable political firestorm (represented by one thinly imagined visit to Grant by the mayor), while Grant tracks down a screamingly obvious killer and a motive unobscured by any evocation of setting (the entire novel seems to take place on the undifferentiated space of the movie set that first-novelist Gruenfeld maybe yearns for) or memorable supporting characters (apart from the numbingly loyal investigating team and a few expert consultants, there's barely anybody, memorable or not, on call). Overslung and overwrought--with laughably crude sex, a mystery without a clue, and very little suspense. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (October 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446600598
• ISBN-13: 978-0446600590
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #243,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Commendable Book With An Unusual Plot, October 30, 1998

By 

Robert Derenthal "bucherwurm" (California United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Irreparable Harm (Mass Market Paperback)

I have read other LG books, and this, his first novel, is quite entertaining; A depressed police officer kills some one. Why did she do it. Her boss, Captain Amanda Grant isn't satisfied with the answers she has so far.

The novel brings in various psychological issues which are quite interesting, but herein lies a few of the story's flaws. Amanda Grant has an MA in psychology, yet when she asks various psychiatrists for answers to certain basic psychological questions she is astounded at the answers. Did she sleep through all of her psych courses? I realize that many of these discussions are exposition to inform the readers, but why didn't her non-psychologist Lieutenant ask the questions? Also at one point someone informs the reader that all psychiatrists must undergo analysis. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

All in all, though, it's a very entertaining novel. I would recommend it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally absorbing, haunting and brilliantly written, September 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Irreparable Harm (Mass Market Paperback)

I just got around to reading this debut novel five years after it was published. The author's book "The Halls of Justice" was recommended to me and I was so knocked out I decided to read all of his books.

I'm not a writer so it's hard for me to summon up enough superlatives to say how much this novel took my breath away. It can be read and enjoyed on so many levels, but I look at it as an intensely absorbing mystery written with tremendous flair and skill. The author's knowledge of police matters, psychology (I looked at his Website and he has a degree in psychology), psychoactive drugs and his insights into women (!) are fascinating. His ability to see deep into the hearts of females came across in "The Halls of Justice" and now I know it wasn't a fluke.

I enthusiastically recommend this wonderful debut novel to anybody who doesn't mind being asked to think a little along with the entertainment. "Irreparable Harm" gives you plenty of both.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Too bad they didn't get another reader, November 11, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Irreparable Harm (Audio Cassette)

The story and writing in this book are very well done. Unfortunately, they picked the wrong person to read it. Ms. Dickinson's reading is monotone and lifeless, which detracts from the actual story. I would recommend the book itself, but perhaps you'd prefer reading it on your own.