Book
The doctor's wife / Elizabeth Brundage.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780670033164 (alk. paper)
- ISBN: 0670033162 (alk. paper)
- Physical Description: 342 p. ; 24 cm.
- Publisher: New York : Viking, 2004.
Search for related items by subject
- Subject:
- Physicians' spouses > Fiction.
Physicians > Fiction.
New York (State) > Fiction. - Genre:
- Domestic fiction.
Crime thrillers.
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Castlegar Public Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castlegar Public Library | FIC BRU (Text) | 35146001209311 | Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2004 July #1
The prologue to this compelling novel consists of the murder confession of an obviously unhinged person. So, from the first sentence, readers are hooked--and stay hooked till the end. The plot centers on two marriages and the flaws within them that lead to disaster. Michael and Annie Knowles have a seemingly perfect marriage; Simon and Lydia Hass quite obviously do not. When Michael, an obstetrician, agrees to do abortions part-time at a free clinic in Albany, New York, he starts a chain of events that shatters both couples' lives. The complex, cleverly constructed narrative provides a slow unfolding of the intricate relationships among the characters. Third-person narration, rotating point of view, and skillful use of flashback gradually construct the anatomy of a catastrophe and provide suspense, momentum, and believable characters. This page-turner will appeal to a broad readership and will do well in public libraries with audiences as diverse as Ruth Rendell fans, lovers of Rosellen Brown's Before and After (1992), and those who could not put down Stephen King's Delores Claibourne (1992). ((Reviewed July 2004)) Copyright 2004 Booklist Reviews. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2004 April #2
Wooden first novel about the trouble that ensues when the wife of an obstetrician who performs abortions has an affair with a local artist married to a deranged pro-lifer.Except for a couple of fatally bad decisions, Annie and Michael Knowles would be just two more yuppies living in a dull town in upstate New York. Michael is a rising star at St. Vincent's Hospital in Albany, an OB/GYN with a growing practice and a reputation for competence, tact, and compassion. Annie, in addition to raising two children, teaches a very popular creative writing course at St. Catherine's College. But neither of them can fully enjoy the happiness due to those who live in carefully decorated houses and drive foreign cars. To begin with, Annie is extremely lonely. Michael works around the clock and ignores her at home, so she falls into bed with Simon Haas, a painter, drunk, and womanizer who also teaches at St. Catherine's. Simon's wife, the unstable Lydia, stays in bed for days at a time, sells lingerie in her spare time, and hangs out with a charismatic preacher named Reverend Tim. When Michael agrees to start doing abortions at a local clinic as a favor to an old girlfriend, he and Annie begin getting death threats. The Reverend Tim leads and organizes protests against Michael's clinic, and he even more helpfully provides Lydia with a gun and shows her how to use it. Lydia, in turn, registers for Annie's class and submits a lengthy pornographic description of some of Simon's stranger sexual practices for Annie's perusal. Eventually, there's a kidnapping and somebody gets killed.A lifeless and overwritten ("Albany was a city that wept bitterly and did not apologize for its weeping," etc.) exercise in stereotypes-the venal clergyman, the workaholic husband, the religious fanatic, the dissipated artist-that provides very little to convince or delight.Agent: Linda Chester/Linda Chester & Associates Copyright Kirkus 2004 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved. - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 2004 June #2
Annie and Michael have always been well liked in their suburban neighborhood. But when Michael, "the perfect doctor," decides to help an old girlfriend at a local women's health center, the couple begins to receive mysterious threats. Are these from an antiabortion group? Or is it someone who doesn't like the fact that Annie is finding solace with someone else's husband while Michael is working at the clinic? When an accident occurs, and Michael is presumed dead, everything starts to unravel. First novelist Brundage has created strong, multifaceted characters, portraying Annie and Michael as genuine people whose jealousies, insecurities, and annoyances are completely understandable. Unlike the far-fetched resolutions of many suspense novels, the ending here is realistic yet satisfyingly dramatic. A thinking person's thriller, this is a fine debut, full of psychological suspense, plot twists and turns, malice disguised as religion, the taint of incest, and cheating spouses. Recommended for all public libraries.-Marianne Fitzgerald, Anne Arundel Cty. Schs., Annapolis, MD Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2004 May #5
Set against the backdrop of the battle for abortion rights, this timely but stilted debut thriller features a perfect yuppie couple. Michael Knowles is a successful OB-GYN and his wife, Annie, is a popular journalism professor; they have two precious kids and a big, airy home in upstate New York. But once Michael accepts a position at the only abortion clinic in town, the already heavy strain that his doctor's schedule puts on their marriage sends Annie into the arms of a colleague, notorious painter Simon Haas. Meanwhile, Michael receives increasingly hostile threats from creepy antiabortion activists, suggesting that one, or both, of the Knowles are targets of a vicious terror campaign. The painter's childlike young wife, Lydia, as a menacing, tormented Bible-thumper scarred by a harsh, loveless upbringing, is the enigma that fuels Brundage's examination of what happens when we are drawn to the very things that promise to destroy us. But the lessons here are heavy-handed and the characterizations mechanical. The bad guys wear mirrored sunglasses as they force Michael off the road; the good guys wear jackets emblazoned with angel's wings; and the dialogue is delivered in short sound bites scripted for a TV cliffhanger. The Knowles' storybook marriage takes a number of dark, twisted turns, but the lack of character nuance and depth blunt Brundage's stab at psychological suspense. Agent, Linda Chester. (June 21) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.