The Last Lie »

Writers often use elements of their own personalities to craft their most-enduring characters, and Stephen White has certain done so in creating fellow-clinical psychologist Dr. Alan Gregory. However, White s electrifying series of crime thrillers aren t likely to be mistaken for autobiographies anytime soon.

Shortly after Alan and Lauren welcome their affluent neighbors-a legal legend in women's rights law and his beautiful wife-the couple hosts a housewarming party that ends in quiet disaster. One of their guests, a young widow, elects to spend the night after indulging in too much wine, only to wake the next morning with no memory beyond getting ready for bed. Was she drugged? Raped? Lauren, a Deputy DA, and Detective Sam Purdy are both privy to facts they can't share with Alan, but Alan soon discovers that he has a most unusual perspective into what truly happened after the housewarming party. Before Alan can discover all the pieces to the puzzle, an important witness to the events is murdered. Alan fears that other witnesses-people he loves-will be next. Smart, topical, and deftly plotted, The Last Lie delivers the pulse-pounding return of one of contemporary fiction's most enduring heroes.

Publishers Weekly

In White's winning 18th Alan Gregory thriller (after The Siege), the Boulder, Colo., psychologist gets off on the wrong foot with his new neighbor, TV-star lawyer Mattin Snow, by walking his dogs on Snow's property. In the wake of Snow's housewarming party, to which Alan wasn't invited, an unnamed female guest claims Snow raped her. Before the case can hit the press, the lawyers for both Snow and the victim close ranks and begin to work out a private financial settlement with the victim agreeing not to testify (a parallel to the real-life Kobe Bryant case a few years back, also in Colorado). Gregory becomes entangled in the case ethically when he learns that the victim is the client of a psychologist-in-training whom he's supervising. Series fans will enjoy catching up with the domestic doings of Alan and his wife, Lauren, who are beginning to patch up their marriage following recent infidelities, and their two children. (Aug.)