SHADOW IN THE MIRROR by Robert Aiello

SHADOW IN THE MIRROR by Robert Aiello
A Grant Montgomery series, No. 2
Creative Arts Book Company - May 2001
ISBN: 0887393454 - Trade paperback
Amateur Sleuth / Suspense

Reviewed by Barbara Buhrer, MyShelf.com
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Grant Montgomery, retired mentalist, receives a call from Lorraine Everett, who was his girl friend 15 years ago. She asks him to visit her father, Maynard, who was the top performing mentalist of his day, and Grant's mentor. Maynard has an incurable brain tumor and is hallucinating about voices telling him to commit suicide. Before Grant can be of any
assistance, Maynard is found with his wrists slashed, apparently a suicide.

Lorraine is devastated by his death and seems to go into a decline. Her twin, Lona, has hated their father and Lorraine. After giving her father doses of belladonna, which had caused him to have those hallucinations, she is now slowly poisoning Lorraine. She wants their father's estate for herself.

Grant's world is in turmoil: Jack Florentine, a sadistic hoodlum just out of prison, is bent on revenge, because Grant had given evidence which
caused his imprisonment; his mentor has died; and his love, Colette, is jealous of his supposedly renewed affair with Lorraine. He must prevent Florentine from injuring himself or Colette, and must force the police to
confirm his suspicions about Lona and save Lorraine.

This is a fast moving story; well-written, with excellent characterizations, full of suspense and intrigue. The reader is given a glimpse of the techniques of the mentalists, and also an education in the properties of the deadly plant, belladonna. There are several plots which all come together in a satisfying conclusion.