Product Description

Sometimes the warning signs come too late...

The brutal slaying of Boulder’s controversial D.A. strikes deep in the heart of everything clinical psychologist Alan Gregory holds dear: After all, Alan’s wife, Lauren, worked for the dead man.

When a new patient walks into Alan’s office—a terrified mother with an explosive secret—he finds himself edging even closer to the darkness. Soon her privileged exchanges convince Alan that a crime is about to be committed. And when he uncovers a shocking link to the D.A.’s slaying, Alan is suddenly locked in the ethical dilemma of his career, thrust into a desperate manhunt for a killer whose identity no one could have guessed.

As the minutes tick down, Warning Signs explodes into a gripping story of crime and punishment, tragedy and retribution—and of human beings caught in the shattering cross fire of forces beyond their control...forces sometimes within themselves.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #424359 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-01
• Released on: 2003-01-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 6.90" h x 1.31" w x 4.21" l, .54 pounds
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 512 pages

From Publishers Weekly
When can a psychologist go to the police about a client without violating the doctor/patient contract? Boulder psychologist Alan Gregory, veteran of nine previous White suspense novels, wrestles with this dilemma in White's latest top-flight thriller. Neurotic Naomi Bigg seeks help when she suspects her high school son, Paul, plans to avenge his sister's rape and his father's murder conviction for killing the rapist, who was let off on a technicality. Paul's best friend, Ramp, an explosives fanatic, lost his mother to a paroled rapist/murderer and has his own list of targets. Alan's erratic sessions with Naomi begin to unnerve him when he picks up hints of a connection to the recent brutal murder of Boulder's DA, his wife Lauren's boss. Even worse, he realizes that Lauren, suffering from MS and just ending maternity leave, assisted in the bungled prosecution of Paul's sister's rapist. And to further complicate things, the prime suspect in the DA murder case is Boulder police detective Lucy Tanner, partner of Alan's best friend, Sam Purdy. When a car bomb kills a judge's wife in Denver, Alan is torn with indecision, but goes to Sam after explosives are found in the dead DA's house. When a bomb goes off at Alan's office and Lucy is kidnapped, Alan and Sam team up and track Ramp on his deadly bomb spree. White (Private Practices) deliciously taunts the reader with his trademark twists, smoothly weaving plots together and sprinkling red herrings among the solid clues. Could Columbine have been prevented if the shooters' parents had gone to the police? How many warning signs are needed before action should be taken? These questions have led to the "no tolerance" policies in many schools and underlie this tensely satisfying outing. National ad/promo.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The murder of Boulder's troubleshooting DA is just the first sign that things in town are getting bad fast.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Just as Lauren, wife of White's popular Boulder psychologist Alan Gregory, is about to return from maternity leave to her job at the D.A.'s office, the D.A. is found dead in his living room, having been beaten to death with a blunt object. Rather than return to work right away, Lauren agrees to help represent the cop accused in the murder, seeing things from the defense's side of the table for a change. Meanwhile, Alan senses danger on the horizon when a new patient, Naomi Bigg, implies that her son and his twisted friend are plotting to take justice into their own hands, both teenagers having been wronged by the system to tragic ends. Naomi broaches the subject by wondering whether the Klebolds and the Harrises--the parents of the Columbine shooters--could have known what evil existed in the hearts of their troubled sons. Which is greater, she wonders, a mother's duty to protect her children or her duty to protect potential but unknown victims? When Alan learns that Lauren was one of the representatives of the system who allegedly wronged Naomi's son, he quickly loses patience with the philosophical debate. The D.A.'s murder, the investigation of the accused cop, and the Bigg family mystery all come together for an exciting, suspenseful adventure. A high-concept thriller that works. Mary Frances Wilkens
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