Dead Time (Dr. Alan Gregory) by Stephen White Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Dead Time (Dr. Alan Gregory)
Book Review: White should be a literary household name on the order of King, Rowling and whoever else you might care to mention
Summary: 5 Stars
Stephen White continues to amaze. A writer of journeyman quality from the beginning, he has consistently topped himself with each new installment in the Alan Gregory series, starting with PRIVILEGED INFORMATION in 1991. White never writes the same book twice; he is constantly experimenting with his characters and their surroundings --- sometimes making Gregory, a psychologist in Boulder, Colorado, little more than an observer; occasionally putting him front and center; or even relegating him to a cameo appearance, albeit a pivotal one. It was perhaps with KILL ME that it became impossible to ignore the fact that White's work all along had been building to a crescendo to which few writers in the genre aspire, let alone reach. And it is with DEAD TIME, his 16th novel, that he takes it up another notch or two. Again.
DEAD TIME puts Gregory front and center in the middle of the story, not as the result of interaction with a client but because his ex-wife Merideth has asked him for a favor. She and her fiancé have retained the services of a woman named Lisa in order to provide them with the child for whom Merideth longs. But the surrogate has gone missing in New York City without explanation. Gregory agrees to investigate, enlisting the help of his friend Sam Purdy, who in turn is in the midst of a suspension from the Boulder, Colorado police department.
Gregory's relationship with Purdy is touchy at this point in time, and the interplay between the two men as they tentatively reestablish their friendship is worth the price of the book almost by itself. Working from opposite ends, they ultimately discover that Lisa's disappearance is tied to a Grand Canyon camping trip that occurred some years before and resulted, ironically enough, in the disappearance of another young woman. The trail leads Gregory back across the country to Los Angeles, where the answers to both mysteries --- and terrible danger to all involved --- await.
There were portions of DEAD TIME that put me in the mind of other books and authors. At times it compares favorably to THE RUINS by Scott Smith, though it bears no similarity to that novel. White's New York sequences are as fine as those set forth by Lawrence Block, and Gregory's time in Los Angeles reminds one of Michael Connelly's cinematic view of that area as he puts Harry Bosch through his paces. White's style, though, is not at all imitative of those writers. He takes a step or two in different directions, exploring the gulf between generations regarding their sexual mores, the complexities of male friendship and the difficulties of marriage.
Ultimately, DEAD TIME is a psychological thriller, and at the heart of every thriller is a villain. This book has a good one --- a great one in fact --- and the author introduces the ultimate villain of the piece with such stunning perfection that it will be difficult to encounter another anytime soon without their being found wanting.
Stephen White, on the strength of DEAD TIME, should be a literary household name on the order of King, Rowling and whoever else you might care to mention. He is that good.
Book Review: exhilarating action-packed Alan Gregory thriller
Summary: 5 Stars
Years ago, a group of college students hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon; one morning at the bottom, they met Nicholas Paulson who was looking for his girlfriend Jaana Peek, who was in the United States on a Visa. She had disappeared so the group searched for her with three of them leaving the Canyon including Eric and Lisa who could not participate in the rescue effort. Years later Lisa agreed to be the surrogate mother for Eric and his fiancée Meredith, former wife of psychologist Dr. Alan Gregory.
Meredith turns to Alan when Lisa disappears with her fetus growing inside her. Alan, who is recovering from his DRY ICE escapade, is in New York with his stepson Jonas, prepared to take him back home if his visit with his dead mother Adrienne's estranged family proves too traumatic. However, he agrees to help his former wife and starts with a friend's daughter who was part of the Grand Canyon incident years ago. Every clue from the past that he uncovers proves very relevant to the present, but Alan remains ignorant that someone is watching his progress to insure he never learns the truth; before that occurs this stalker will do to Alan what happened to Jaana.
The latest Alan Gregory thriller is an exhilarating action-packed tale in which a dark past spreads its tentacles into the present. The protagonist is just starting to get his life together as he deals with a new stepson whose uncle protests his having custody of his nephew and a shaky marriage. However, when Meredith asks for his aid, his conscience makes him say yes. Although the plot moves at light speed, it is the strong characterizations that make this a special read.
Harriet Klausner
Book Review: great people in bad situations
Summary: 5 Stars
Dr. Alan Gregory is a durable hero. He's been shot, stabbed, pushed off of cliffs, almost pushed off of cliffs, stalked, variously assaulted, and attacked by at least one wild animal. And yet he remains a mensch - tiresomely physically fit and over-addicted to healthy living, perhaps, but still a mensch. He admires his wife, cherishes his friends, and generally respects his patients. He loves his dogs, present and past. The supporting cast is equally attractive/compelling: Lauren Crowder's independent intelligence and relentless bravery, Sam Purdy's common sense and generosity, Adrienne Arvin's dementedly charming chutzpah, Diane and Raoul's wit and trendy whimsy, all serve to anchor the series. And the presence of Grace in the later novels promises to develop into a great child character, possibly rivaling Lucy Karp in the early Gruber-authored Tanenbaums. The incidental characters are vivid and generally believable, almost without exception. Some authors are better at male characters than female, or the reverse, but White is excellent at people, all people. Most of the books are first-person narration by Gregory, but White can shift to third-person with aplomb.
Aside from the great characters, the plots of this series are outstanding. We learn about a private end-of-life corporation, cold-case volunteer groups, the Mormons, DB Cooper, the cult of personality, Grand Canyon adventures, and the fallout from the JonBenet case, all without stretching the seams of the community based in Boulder, CO. When the plots call for suspense, the books are literally terrifying, real white-knuckle reads. White is witty and insightful and the very best craftsperson of the English language I've read in years. His casually correct use of the subjective fills me with delight, as do his always-agreeing pronouns, and his elegant but unpretentious syntax. His prose is a pleasure to read.
The settings are wondrously vivid - views, trees, coffee houses, the streets and walks of Boulder and environs. White brings food to the table and vistas to the eye. You can track his characters on GoogleEarth and see just what he describes. I fell into this series at a gruesome time for me, professionally, and reading them all in a period of a couple of weeks has been an exercise in staying sane. Some are, of course, better than others - Kill Me, The Program, Higher Authority, Manner of Death - and there are some weak links (Cold Case, Private Practices), but I can't imagine reading 15 books by any other contemporary author sans break and still wishing for more.
Dead Time makes use of the series' favorite mode: the flash-back. We re-meet Merideth, Alan's first wife who appeared briefly in the second novel. She's an unsympathetic character presented with skill sufficient to buffer her warts, and her ego-centered plot pulls Alan in. He's in his own Slough of Despond, and fairly unattractive with it. As a portrait of failed and floundering marriages, the book is keenly insightful. There are many, many characters, but each is drawn so clearly that the reader doesn't get confused. White nails the exquisitely self-involved, massively self-righteous world-view of recent undergrads, where no nuance is too small to agonize over, no desire too fleeting for collective scrutiny. The ending leaves us hoping for better days for the Gregory-Crowder clan.