On July 1st I will be posting a review of a very special book I had the opportunity to read. Stayed tuned for my review on The Choice by Allison J. Kennedy!!
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Friday, June 12, 2015
Every Fifteen Minutes
Was on vacation the past ten days, sorry for the lack of posts! Didn't get as much reading done as I thought I would on the trip, but I'm back in action now. :)
Every Fifteen Minutes is Lisa Scottoline’s brand new novel. I’ve loved her previous novels Look Again and Save Me, so I went out and bought this one the day it came out. The novel is primarily about a psychiatrist, Dr. Parrish and a new patient of his, Max. Though I thought the novel was pretty straight forward for about half of the book, the complexity really built and built until the very last page. I appreciate Scottoline’s attention to detail and how she can keep you so engaged while pulling a story together in a satisfying ending.
I regret to say I almost gave up on this novel though, halfway into this 432 page novel, I was bored. I couldn’t figure out where the author was leading me, why there was no excitement really happening, and what the whole point of the novel was even about! But I have only ever not finished readying one novel in my life, and I was determined to push through my boredom and finish this book. Besides, I love this author, psychology, and I was already over 200 pages in! And boy, am I so glad I stuck with this novel through the end. It kept me guessing until the end, and the ending completely shocked me! I’m usually a decent predictor, so bravo Scottoline.
Max comes to see Dr. Parrish after his dying grandmother, whom he is the caretaker of, requests a consult for his grandson Max. Dr. Parrish is worried and agrees to see him as a private client. They see each other three times, before Dr. Parrish’s world explodes like he could of never imagined. In those three sessions, Dr. Parrish confirms that Max as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, and is depressed with suicidal tendencies. But when his grandmother passes, he breaks, and goes missing. Soon, a young lady Max was obsessed with is found dead, Max has taken hostages inside a mall and Dr. Parrish is in trouble with the law because he is following patient confidentiality laws.
However, Max’s story wasn’t really the main story line throughout this novel, and that took me a while to understand. It’s so much more complex than that, and so much more about Dr. Parrish. Dr. Parrish has recently gone through a divorce and is battling custody over their daughter Hannah. He had an incident in the hospital with a client and got him in trouble, a student on a psychiatric rotation accused him of sexual harassment and he was soon suspended as Chief of the Psychiatric Unit. Dr. Parrish’s life appears to be in shambles, but he’s determined to get to the bottom of what’s going on - especially because he believes Max didn’t murder the young lady, Renee.
In the last twenty percent or so of the novel, all the pieces come together. We discover how Dr. Parrish was set up by a colleague who he respected, and that his maybe girlfriend Laurie was actually a sociopath. We learn that Dr. Parrish’s relationship improves with his ex-wife and he gets to be a larger part of his daughters life. We can follow how Dr. Parrish pieced everything together, but how much of a fight it was to have people believe him. In the end, Max is sent to a detention center for his hostage stint at the local mall, but is doing much better and making great progress. Dr. Parrish’s life is put back together, and he stands up for himself against the hospital administrators and resumes his chief post after the fake allegations are cleared.
When you read this book, be patient through the first half. Absorb the details and try and enjoy the story - because you’re in for a real treat when you get to the second half and finish the novel. This novel makes you think for days afterward, and for me, that makes me admire and respect Scottoline a million times more. I can’t wait to read her next novel, whenever that may be, whatever subject it may be about.
Every Fifteen Minutes is Lisa Scottoline’s brand new novel. I’ve loved her previous novels Look Again and Save Me, so I went out and bought this one the day it came out. The novel is primarily about a psychiatrist, Dr. Parrish and a new patient of his, Max. Though I thought the novel was pretty straight forward for about half of the book, the complexity really built and built until the very last page. I appreciate Scottoline’s attention to detail and how she can keep you so engaged while pulling a story together in a satisfying ending.
I regret to say I almost gave up on this novel though, halfway into this 432 page novel, I was bored. I couldn’t figure out where the author was leading me, why there was no excitement really happening, and what the whole point of the novel was even about! But I have only ever not finished readying one novel in my life, and I was determined to push through my boredom and finish this book. Besides, I love this author, psychology, and I was already over 200 pages in! And boy, am I so glad I stuck with this novel through the end. It kept me guessing until the end, and the ending completely shocked me! I’m usually a decent predictor, so bravo Scottoline.
Max comes to see Dr. Parrish after his dying grandmother, whom he is the caretaker of, requests a consult for his grandson Max. Dr. Parrish is worried and agrees to see him as a private client. They see each other three times, before Dr. Parrish’s world explodes like he could of never imagined. In those three sessions, Dr. Parrish confirms that Max as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, and is depressed with suicidal tendencies. But when his grandmother passes, he breaks, and goes missing. Soon, a young lady Max was obsessed with is found dead, Max has taken hostages inside a mall and Dr. Parrish is in trouble with the law because he is following patient confidentiality laws.
However, Max’s story wasn’t really the main story line throughout this novel, and that took me a while to understand. It’s so much more complex than that, and so much more about Dr. Parrish. Dr. Parrish has recently gone through a divorce and is battling custody over their daughter Hannah. He had an incident in the hospital with a client and got him in trouble, a student on a psychiatric rotation accused him of sexual harassment and he was soon suspended as Chief of the Psychiatric Unit. Dr. Parrish’s life appears to be in shambles, but he’s determined to get to the bottom of what’s going on - especially because he believes Max didn’t murder the young lady, Renee.
In the last twenty percent or so of the novel, all the pieces come together. We discover how Dr. Parrish was set up by a colleague who he respected, and that his maybe girlfriend Laurie was actually a sociopath. We learn that Dr. Parrish’s relationship improves with his ex-wife and he gets to be a larger part of his daughters life. We can follow how Dr. Parrish pieced everything together, but how much of a fight it was to have people believe him. In the end, Max is sent to a detention center for his hostage stint at the local mall, but is doing much better and making great progress. Dr. Parrish’s life is put back together, and he stands up for himself against the hospital administrators and resumes his chief post after the fake allegations are cleared.
When you read this book, be patient through the first half. Absorb the details and try and enjoy the story - because you’re in for a real treat when you get to the second half and finish the novel. This novel makes you think for days afterward, and for me, that makes me admire and respect Scottoline a million times more. I can’t wait to read her next novel, whenever that may be, whatever subject it may be about.
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