Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #444093 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 384 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The mutilated body of a prostitute in a nun's habit, her pubic hair shaved into a cross, appears on page one of this suspense thriller, making it plain that Rose's latest (after Sheet Music) is not for the squeamish. The novel is the first in a new series featuring the Butterfield Institute, a Manhattan sex therapy clinic employing psychiatrist Dr. Morgan Snow. One of Morgan's patients, the clever and selective call girl Cleo Thane, has written a memoir full of thinly disguised portraits of her clients, powerful men with odd fantasies and fetishes. She leaves this potentially explosive manuscript with Dr. Snow and then misses several appointments, causing Morgan to suspect foul play. Yet NYPD Det. Noah Jordain and his team, diligently pursuing leads in what's become a gory, ritualistic series of prostitute murders, have no evidence that Cleo, whose clientele puts her in a class by herself, might be a victim. Noah and Morgan are drawn to each other, but when Morgan can't persuade Noah to devote more effort to the search for Cleo, she determines to go undercover and meet Cleo's principal clients herself. Ill-equipped for this masquerade, Morgan is soon in over her head and in peril. The mystery takes second place to the catalogue of sexual eccentricities, but Cleo is an engaging guide to the world of dysfunction Rose painstakingly constructs.
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Customer Reviews

Not your usual suspense novel
Dr. Morgan Snow, the protagonist of this first installment in M.J. Rose's new series of Butterfield Institute novels, is a perceptive therapist and a newly divorced mother, an expert in sexuality with, at least in recent years, more theoretical knowledge of the subject than hands-on experience. She is troubled still by an unusually sad childhood--details of which drip into the narrative of The Halo Effect--from which she emerged scarred with abandonment issues. Morgan is a fully realized, multi-dimensional, wholly likeable character. And she is an unlikely amateur sleuth, which is part of the charm of Rose's new series: criminal suspense has not found a home before in the halls of a sex therapy clinic.

Morgan, who has worked with the police in past cases, becomes involved again when a serial killer begins murdering prostitutes and posing them, in death, in a series of religiously significant, grotesque tableaux. Dr. Snow numbers many prostitutes--both incarcerated and not--among her patients, so the crimes are of especial concern for her. But what is most alarming is the recent disappearance of one of her favorites: call girl Cleo Thane has enjoyed an almost Mayflower-Madamish level of success but may have put her career and person in jeopardy by writing a tell-nearly-all book about her high-powered clients.

The Halo Effect is not your usual suspense novel. Not only is the occupation of its principal sleuth unconventional, but Rose's writing is somehow similarly unexpected. She eschews hackneyed expression while bathing her subjects in rich description. See, for example, her oblique description of the (sub-)eponymous Butterfield Institute: "There is a small brass plaque on the outside of the building, identifying it but giving little else away: The Butterfield Institute. The black cursive letters are etched deeply into the metal plate. Run your fingers over them and you feel the edges pushing into your flesh. Could you cut your skin on those edges and draw blood? Probably not, but even if you did, none of us inside could offer more than a Band-Aid."

As must be obvious by now, I liked Rose's book very much. And I am eager to read the second installment in the series, which will reportedly be released in April of 2005--farther off than I should like.

Masterful psychological suspense
MJ Rose has the rare gift of engaging her reader in a touching story, bringing out an empathy and tenderness for the people who inhabit her fictional world as she skillfully weaves a chilling plot. This unusual balance makes "The Halo Effect" an unforgettable read. Erotic, deeply psychological, and written with spare and often lyrical prose, this expert novel explores the underworld of both our city streets and our own unconsciousness. A tremendous piece of suspense writing from a gifted story-teller.

Sexy and Scary
I was up into the wee hours reading this book. It's terrific suspense, combined with great characters and a truly sick bad guy. Rose keeps the psychological aspects of her other books while crafting a delicious page turner. I'm excited for the next one!