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Nine Days to Evil

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Meredith Laughlin's husband, Dr. Conrad Laughlin, calls on his way to visit clinics in outlying areas. While on the phone, Meredith hears him scream, then the sounds of a car crash, and then silence as the phone goes dead. No one is able to reach him by phone or to locate him.

She reports his disappearance and probable crash, but since his car hasn't been located and no crash has been reported, there really isn't much they could do. Finally she gets Detective Sam Vanderhoven to investigate his disappearance.

Dr. Key Walker, Conrad's partner, covers for Conrad, but this adds a lot of extra work on his plate. When he looks into Conrad's files, he found some interesting and odd things. Key begins to wonder what is going on. Could Conrad's disappearance be related?

Meredith begins Grad School and through some of her classes begins to realize her husband might not be what he had appeared to be. To help her move on with her life, she begins to try to find him and get the answers she needs.

Some additional things begin to happen. Can they either find him or at least what happened to him before anyone else is seriously hurt?

I have never read anything by this author before. This book pulled me in immediately, and I found myself having trouble putting it down. It is an intriguing story. You really get a feel for what Meredith is going through and how this affects her life. The characters are wonderfully created and work well together. The Texas location really lends itself to this story. The author does a great job switching between the various characters so that we see the story from many angles. Normally this detracts from a story, but in this instance, it is so well done. I highly recommend this book! Hope she writes more like this.

Nine Days to Evil has a plot that carries you on and keeps you reading. It held my interest all the way to the end and left me wanting to see her next book. The characters are interesting and believable. This is a good, fast read. Glass skillfully enriches the book with ideas from Othello and from psychology classes taken by the major character.

I found myself hooked early in this mystery with chores put aside so that I could read.
Both plot and characters are skillfully drawn. "Nine Days To Evil" opens with a phone call, a crash, and a disappearance, and moves quickly and suspensefully through the nine days.
At the end, I had the impression of having met new friends that I would get to know much better as the mysteries progress.

One phone call begins nine days of confusion and fear for young graduate student Meredith Laughin. The call from her new husband Conrad, driving to one of his medical clinic, is suddenly interrupted by the sounds of a crash that sends Meredith into a panic as she frantically attempts to force the police into finding him. As days pass, things look bleaker when Conrad's car is discovered submerged in a creek with no sign of his body anywhere. Just as terrifying for Meredith is the growing fear that she never really knew Conrad and that he may have been hiding secrets both horrifying and shocking. With little support from her parents, both who are enamored and admiring of Conrad, Meredith comes to lean on the investigating detective, widower Sam Vanderhoven, and Agatha Mundeen, a fellow graduate student in Meredith's psychology course. It is in this class that Meredith beings to see that Conrad may not have been the man she thought he was and instead may be a sociopath with a hidden agenda and a secret life. The couple that their friends labeled "Barbie and Ken" may have been anything but, as Conrad's wife and his fellow doctor at the hospital begin to see that his lies are covering something worse than they could have imagined.

This mystery is as fascinating for its mystery and engaging characters as it is informative about sociopaths and Shakespearean literature. What West displays best is Meredith's progression from being a dependant daughter and wife to becoming a strong and assertive woman. West as well creates very real supportive characters, from Vanderhoven whose feelings for Meredith are based on the losses in his life, to Agatha, a woman who followed her heart to San Antonio. Conrad Laughin himself, who at first is ethereal and seen only in the eyes of others becomes more real and twisted as the reader begins to see his manipulations and goals. For a suspenseful mystery that keeps the reader glued to the page, look no further than Nancy West's Nine Days to Evil.

The book carries a very thought provoking series of events which keeps the reader in constant suspense. The interweaving of the mystery along with the academic and psychological plots in it make the book hard to put down. It is an exciting book, and the author certainly should be complimented.

I picked up this book at my son and daughter-in-laws house while I was visiting. After the first page I knew I should not have picked it up because I was leaving the next day and I knew my daughter wanted to read it. It's a page turner! I read most of the night and in the car on the way to the airport. I knew I would be able to sleep on the plane. It's a good read and I reccomend it to anyone that likes a good mystery.

Nancy Glass West is a writer and poet. She has been a guest poet on "Theme and Variations," a show aired by National Public Radio. She is currently writing her next mystery.

Meredith Laughlin is a traditional wife of a doctor, but her stirrings are telling her to go back to graduate school to study English Literature. She adores her husband, who is a magnificent looking man with a lot of charisma who practices gynecology. However, he acts remote at times, and then there was the time he disappeared for two days with no explanation. Now he is missing again, after a troubling phone call which he made from his car phone just before she heard a crash:

"'Have Claire tell her old man to quit working so hard,' Conrad joked. 'Dr. Walker is a little cog in a big old medical wheel. Hey...what are you...Hey! Look Out...Oh, my God!'

Meredith heard brakes screech and gripped the phone, straining to hear over thunder detonating on the roof. 'Conrad! What is it? What's happening? Can you hear me?'"

The scene is set for Agatha Mundeen and Homicide Detective Sam Vanderhoven to enter Meredith's life, as well as the play OTHELLO and a course in abnormal psychology. As each day of Conrad's disappearance drags on, the threesome put together a probable cause for his disappearance, and all these elements serve as signposts in the investigation.

West writes a striking mystery, with deception and sociopaths galore. Detective Sam and Agatha have plenty of juicy history, and act as guides for Meredith's self awakening, even as they hunt for her husband. She intertwines good and evil in a ghostly dance, even as she clearly delineates her characters. The action is nonstop, and West is careful to peel the layers of evil with a practiced eye. The denouement is chilling, and Meredith's discoveries almost lead to her demise. But all is well in the end, and the reader cheers for Meredith's growth and survival. NINE DAYS TO EVIL is a fine effort, and is a well written book with many tentacles. Nancy Glass West is a wise woman with a knack for suspense. NINE DAYS TO EVIL is an engaging first effort.

Shelley Glodowski
Reviewer

As a psychologist and Shakespeare aficionado, I thoroughly enjoyed Nine Days to Evil. How clever and diabolical the antisocial personality can be in manipulating the trust of someone who believes he is genuine. Nancy Glass West did a superb job of characterization and maintaining intrigue throughout her novel. I look forward to the sequel!

Nancy and I are Lake House neighbors. I knew she was writing a book and I was thrilled to buy it when it was published. When you know someone but not all that well you don't know what to expect of their writing talents. I was pleasently surprised at how good it was. I'm a big reader, especially mysteries and I've got to say she is right up there with all of the other top mystery authors. I know she is working on a second book. I can see her sitting on her patio writing, and I wonder what she is writng about. What is the plot on this next book going to be? I can't wait to read it!

For Meredith Laughlin her life is almost perfect. Naive and wealthy, she is for the most part happily married to Dr. Conrad Laughlin, staff member of Methodist University Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. In addition to his hospital duties, he also sees private and clinic patients at locations some distance from San Antonio. He makes a circuit every week of a different area and uses San Antonio as his center point.

As the book opens, he is on the road to see some of his patients and behind the wheel of his beloved Jag. Despite the thunderstorms in the area, he manages to get through to Meredith briefly on his cell phone. They only manage to connect for a minute or so and then Meredith hears her husband scream and what sounds like the noises of a violent car crash before she is cut off. She reports the incident and initially Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers can't find the car and have no record of a crash in the area. As the hours pass into days, Meredith takes the first tentative steps on along road in trying to find out what happened to her husband.

For Conrad's partner, Dr. Key Walker, the disappearance ads a tremendous amount of work to his shoulders. In addition to everything else, Walker now has to cover Conrad's patients. Something that would be easier if the files were in the proper order and if some of them, made medical sense. This isn't the first time Conrad has done something odd and Key suspects something sinister is going on.

Meredith is also beginning to wonder about her perfect husband. While she knows far less than Key, Conrad's behavior with her has been a little odd from time to time. As she begins to attend Grad School, she starts recognizing that her husband might not be all that he appears to be and that she needs to find him and get answers before moving on with her life.

This is an enjoyable mystery featuring an interesting set of characters at the beginning of what appears to be a series. As the ripples of Conrad's disappearance touch other lives, the point of view shifts between those characters adding further dimension to this cozy style mystery. In so doing, the author creates a fuller, deeper work, while sacrificing none of the plot, pacing, and storyline points that make this novel an enjoyable read from start to finish.


Book Facts:

Nine Days To Evil
By Nancy Glass West
Booklocker
www.booklocker.com
2004
ISBN # 0-9747705-0-7
Large Trade Paperback



Kevin R. Tipple © 2004