Title: No More Lies
Author: Susan Squires
Published in October 2003 by LoveSpell
Genre: Romantic Suspense
IBSN: 0-505-52566-6
Related Books: Sacrament Sacrilege: The Only One Anthology
The Companion The Hunger The Burning
Other Books by Susan: Danegeld, Body Electric, Danelaw
Schizophrenia is a horrible malady, and no one is more aware of its sufferers than Dr. Holland Banks. She is a bright, beautiful, brilliant psychiatrist, and at the moment, very unsure of her own sanity. She knows the trauma that schizophrenia imposes in its hapless victims, and has done her best to relieve and treat the malady in others. She has seen quite a bit of it as the head of the Century Psychiatric Center. Though looked down on by her scientist father, she is one of the preeminent scientists in the field, and had garnered quite a formidable reputation. Now, she wonders if schizophrenia is to be her problem as well. Holland has worked hard, studied long hours to get to the top in her field of expertise, but is she becoming, or has she become a victim of the very problem she wants to alleviate in others? That is the question that has been bothering her for a while now. The voices she has been hearing in her head are increasing and becoming louder. They vary, some shriek, seemingly in supreme agony, and then become frighteningly silent. Others seem to be rational, thinking normal everyday thoughts and trying to cope with the voices they are hearing outside of their own thoughts. They seem to struggle, trying to remain sane. Some are succeeding.
There is also the matter of the weird stranger. The man who seems to have an intense interest in her, and has been following Holland for quite a while now. The fear is there that he could be a stalker, but her intuition keeps telling her otherwise. When he crashes a reception that is being held by her father, she realizes that maybe there is something that they have in common. When he actually shows up in the Century Psychiatric Hospital, Holland starts putting the pieces of the puzzle together. The net is closing in around her, and her father seems to be part and parcel of the web of lies that has surrounded her for years. His treachery is only a part the shock that is headed her way, The problem is who to trust, and in the danger that she now faces, she has not recourse to turn to the very stranger who seemed to be a threat to her own sanity. How can she, or they fight what is ahead of them and what is her father up to now? Can they face the possible betrayal to come? Holland realizes that the question will soon come down to survival...
Jeff McQueen is having very serious problems. There are voices in his head, that he doesn’t understand, and he feels as though he's truly going mad. It had started affecting his work as well, and he was really getting strange looks from his co-workers at the paper. He had no choice but to leave, and now he searches for the reasons behind this, and a cure if possible before he loses what he has left. As a top flight investigative reporter, Jeff knows how to get answers and often where to start looking. So far, he has no clue as to what is going on, but the voices in his head are getting louder, are causing him an increasing loss of concentration. That is not good. Yet there is one woman he hears loudly. She is very close, and she is quite clearly trying to reason things out. She is just on the edge of panic, but still sane, strong and logical. Not like the shriekers, the poor tortured souls that he is sure aren't surviving.
The trail leads him to a psychiatrist of all people, Dr. Holland Banks, and he is not sure if she will be able to help him or not. The only thing he knows at this point is that he is drawn to her on some level, and it is imperative that he find a way into her sphere of influence. He needs to find the answers and feels that she can provide them in part, if not in total. He trails her, and finally comes to the conclusion that he must take desperate measures. If he cannot soon put the voices to rest, he may end up as one of the many who have "ceased to exist". Jeff thinks the inability to cope with the commotion in their heads may be the reason they shriek, and also starts him to wondering if there is a climbing suicide rate. Something has quieted somt of them, and he is afraid he may follow suit. He knows that without the sane reasoning and the logic of the woman in his head, he would be very temped to end it all. The surprise comes when he crashed the party at her father's home and actually touches her. When he actually ends up at her clinic, and discoveres that she is indeed the voice of reason in his head, but then, she is much more. She is life, survival...she is his soulmate.
Susan Squires has done it again! What a roller coaster she has constructed with NO MORE LIES. True to its name, the book tells a wonderfully suspenseful story about two people caught in a genetic nightmare, a malfunction that allows them to read other minds, and forces them to depend on each other for their very sanity. Dr. Leland Banks has found and exploited a genetic mutation, and has actually been able to graft it to a Flu virus. The effects of his nasty and diabolical little creation, this particular flu could wipe out a significant population. and his ultimate plot does not stop there. Two of those who have the natural mutation are of great interest, his psychiatrist daughter, Holland, and an investigative reporter named Jeff McQueen. Leland has been watching his daughter closely for years. He stumbled across her mutation by accident and has been looking for signs the unusual symptoms are manifesting themselves. He hopes that soon he will be able to study the effects up close and personal. The scruffy reporter, however, is expendable.
Together Jeff and Holland must run, not only from her father, but also from government agents who wish use them for their own purposes. Promises made by Holland’s father, funded by a labyrinthine government organization and an unscrupulous and powerful senator, have jeopardized their very existence. The mental abilities, the tangled thoughts of the others are a constant distraction, but in learning to control their own panicked and wayward minds, they also realize that in this new society, there can be No More Lies. The book is a definite roller coaster of ups and down, and Squires skillfully directs the ride in the direction of the most drama, and assures the readers the thrill of danger and suspense. No More Lies is one of the hottest affaires to grace the world of Romance this year. Squires, true to her wonderful beginning in romantic suspense with Body Electric, continues to captivate us with this October release from Dorchester’s LoveSpell line. No More Lies is another fantastic Squires Special. Look for it on your bookseller’s shelves very soon!
Yours in good reading,
Rose!
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