The Hypnotist's Love Story

March 19, 2012
In Moriarty’s intriguing follow-up to What Alice Forgot, Ellen O’Farrell is a hypnotherapist in Australia who becomes romantically involved with Patrick, a single father and widower with a troubling secret: he has a stalker—ex-girlfriend Saskia. Instead of being disturbed, Ellen is curious about Saskia, wondering who she is, why she’s stalking Patrick, and if she, Ellen, could ever love anyone enough to stalk them for three years. Soon, Ellen discovers more than she was expecting: after three months of dating, she’s pregnant with Patrick’s child; Patrick wants to get married; and Saskia has been a patient of hers (under a pseudonym) since Ellen started her relationship with Patrick. Ellen and Patrick (and his son Jack) move in together, but Saskia doesn’t stop, a problem abetted by Ellen’s inquisitiveness and frustration about Patrick’s comparisons of Ellen to his dead wife, Colleen. As Saskia’s antics become increasingly aggressive, Ellen soon realizes that their bizarre situation has crossed into dangerous territory. Ellen’s voice is compelling and believable, and readers will appreciate Moriarty’s deft conveyance of a potentially trite topic into the realm of good storytelling.