“One of my patients thinks somebody’s trying to kill him,” Aileen Macklin says to her husband over breakfast. A psychiatrist with a fading marriage, Aileen is haunted by the glue-sniffing lad who comes to her in a panic, begging to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital for protection. Gary Dunn clearly needs help: ravaged by his squalid existence, he is paralyzed with fear about a murder he has witnessed and convinced he may be next. Unfortunately for Gary, he may just be right. And unfortunately for Aileen, she becomes far more involved in his case than professional ethics would recommend.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Aileen Macklin, at 35, is trapped in a joyless marriage, and her job as a psychiatrist in an underfunded social program in Thatcher's England offers few rewards; she is "absolutely certain that she is a person to whom nothing more would ever happen." That's as tantalizing a premonition of disaster as the author of a psychological suspense novel can offer, and Dibdin quickly makes good with a tightly coiled, coolly analytical depiction of two crumbling psyches. Into Aileen's life comes a tormented teenaged patient who reminds her of a lost love and carries a troubling burden of guilt. Once a squatter, he now seeks institutionalization and resists Aileen's every effort to uncover the facts causing his terror. This dense, compact mood piece includes stories within stories within flashbacks, preventing its structure from becoming clear until the closing moments. While an ambiguous ending may irritate some readers, the sense of creeping dread that pervades the narrative is sustained superbly throughout, distinguishing this work as both a haunting thriller and as a series of harshly lit snapshots of London's dispossessed.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Echoes of Alice in Wonderland creep eerily through this short novel that moves between urban British blight and psychiatric wings of old hospitals. While the reader awaits the big moment of the title, the tryst has already happened, with repercussions reverberating throughout the novel. The plot is the amateur detective type, with Aileen, the psychologist, as detective. Steven, the boy assigned to her, is at once victim, patient, conspirator, and Aileen's aborted child. The reader, however, knows far more than Aileen. One wonders about her skill as a psychologist, not to mention her sleuthing ability. Suspense is created by lapses of memory and comprehension and by role reversals. Despite the above-mentioned flaws and an awkward structure, the novel is engaging, especially its dialog and description.
- Nancy E. Zuwiyya, Binghamton City Sch. Dist., N.Y.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
- Nancy E. Zuwiyya, Binghamton City Sch. Dist., N.Y.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From England and France in 1917 to Hippies in LALAland,
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This review is from: The Tryst (Paperback)
I cannot understand how this book rates only one star. I am a total Dibdin fan and I think it is by far his best book. From London punks trying to eat frozen pizza, literally, in a wintry squat to the well-to-do and (in truth) well-intentioned London middle class, and much in between, this is a complex and fascinating work. It contains more truth than thrill, yet frightens all the more so. And, in my opinion, it is all too short, hardly 200 pages.It is hard to imagine anyone not falling into the grip of this realistic yet intensely poetic book. Not quite "horror" (speaking of the genre) yet it is utterly unsettling. It shows WWI with greater strength and insight than Saving Private Ryan (puh...leeze). The scenes from the 60's Brighton "youth culture" would be unfamiliar to any American "ex-hippie", but certainly no less "freaky." And when we are briefly and suddenly transported to college digs near UCLA, even if we are Americans, we can share the culture shock felt by a young English girl. She doesn't stay long. Its hard to pick my favorite moment or moments in this book, but how one young man manages his escape from the closet of a house slated to be torn down bright and early the very next morning....well...that is Dibdin at his very best and shouldn't be missed by any of his fans. Don't let the deceptively slow first 27 pages fool you. The Tryst hits hard but does it's work with a disarming gentleness throughout. I beleive The Tryst to be a work of genius. One star? Outrageous!!! And WHY is it out of print?
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Makes your hair stand on end,
This review is from: The Tryst (Hardcover)
This psychological thriller matches those of Ruth Rendell. It is the story of a psychiatrist and a patient, though the patient is not really mentally ill, he is just seeking the safety of a psychiatric institution. Aileen Macklin has troubles of her own but she has a soft spot for Gary Dunn and she is gradually unravelling what makes the boy tick. Dibdin in the meantime is letting the reader unravel the stories of his characters themselves.
3.0 out of 5 stars
psychological maze,
By
This review is from: The Tryst (Paperback)
The Tryst is an old-fashioned Gothic story crafted out of modern elements; the drug traffic of the 1970s, modern psychotropic medicine, agorophobia, squatters and de-institutionalization of the mentally ill. The Gothic comes in because all the secrets, coincidences, madness and hauntings take place within skillfully rendered buildings that echo the terror and disintegration they house.
Do I admire the book? Yes, it's very well executed. Was I interested throughout? Very much so, but once it's done, it's done. The old Gothic classics by Hawthorne and Wharton sweep me in completely, but the level of mental illness and lack of humor in modern versions (Castle by Robert Lennon, Sacrament of Lies by Elizabeth Dewberry) tend to keep me at an emotional distance from the characters. A notable exception to this is Iodine, by Haven Kimmel, a modern Gothic thriller that captured me completely. The Tryst has memorable characters, but of the three main characters (the three who get to tell their stories) every single one of them is mentally ill in one way or another. Of the important peripheral characters, one is a narcissist and three are violent, manipulative drug addicts. Not a lot of laughs here! But the back stories are interesting, the haunting is haunting, and the plotting is tight.
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