The Last Lie by Stephen White

I’ve been a fan of Stephen White’s Dr. Alan Gregory character based thrillers since the beginning in the late 1980’s. Dr. Gregory is a clinical psychologist in Boulder, Colorado married to a deputy district attorney, Lauren. They live on the outskirts of town on a patch of 10 acres with only two homes, both decades old but with magnificent mountain views. In previous books both the husband and wife neighbors are murdered and Alan and Lauren have adopted the couple’s introspective 11 year old son, Jonas. 'The Last Lie' is the latest in the series but not his best. It is like touching base with an old friend and finding you have lost some of your connection.

‘The Last Lie’ begins as the neighboring house (formerly Jonas’ home) is sold. Alan gets off on the wrong foot with his new neighbor, TV-star lawyer Mattin Snow, by walking his dogs on Snow's property. After Snow's housewarming party, to which Alan is not invited, an unnamed female guest claims Snow raped her. With Snow’s livelihood at risk, the lawyers for both Snow and the victim quickly begin to work out a private financial settlement with the victim agreeing to complete confidentiality. Gregory becomes entangled in the case ethically when he learns that the victim is the patient of a psychologist-in-training under his supervision. Shortly after the alleged rape, the hired chef for the housewarming party is murdered. Lauren is assigned to the case as DA. To further complicate the situation, Sam Purdy, a Boulder police detective is Alan’s best friend and Alan’s office partner, Diane is a friend of his new neighbor’s wife. So, with all the professional confidentialities, Alan is unable to share or discover the true story of what took place from any one person. His relationships become tenuous with everyone including his new adoptive son who is still adjusting to his new life and grieving for his parents and former home.

As Alan collects bits and pieces of the events that took place the night of the housewarming party, he finds himself in a unique position to gain justice for all. But his knowledge of the events and his inability ethically to divulge that knowledge put his life and lives of his family in jeopardy.

White is a good story teller but I thought he droned on a bit with the detail in this one. He spends a lot of time developing characters we already know from previous books in the series. We get it he loves Boulder, Colorado. The scenery is beautiful and everyone is health and environmentally conscious….yada, yada, yada. What is interesting is the complexity of Alan's relationships with each character. He is forced to pump them for information in the most subtle ways thereby employing his own professional skills. He never really gets to be himself, always the psychologist even with family and friends. So, I’ll read more Stephen White for old time sake but I think it’s time for some new characters.