I was thoroughly impressed with this book.  I laughed as I pictured myself in Ms. Holly’s place, dealing with some of the things that happened to her, and all in the space of a week.  This story is a complete thumbnail of all of our lives; trying so hard to get along with everyone whose lives are intertwined with ours and living with the things we have to do just to get by.

Psychologist Kate Holly.is divorcing her soon-to-be-ex-husband, a firefighter, because of the fear she has that his life will be in jeopardy, and he is divorcing her because of the fear he has that her life will be in jeopardy, each rooted in a different source.  They both have to come to terms with the danger they each face as a result of their occupations and choices. At the same time, neither of them really wants to admit that they mean the world to each other, and vice-versa, and they both have legitimate causes to worry.

Kate has a client who wants to bomb her office and she deters him from this, but ends up bombing it herself in the process.  Next, she gets herself evicted from the low-rent building that she uses to house her offices. It's located in a low rent district that invites the people with the most untreatable problems and nonpaying clients in the city, which has been a source of worry for her soon-to-be-ex-husband.  It also worries her ex-boyfriend, a high-rent-district, hot-tubbing psychologist, who offers her a space in his upscale offices. When the soon to be ex-hubby finds this out, fireworks ensue. You will simply roll over laughing and crying at the same time as Kate tries valiantly to figure all this out and still keep her sanity, the love of her family and the respect of her secretary, who is a bit daft herself.

Nutcase is a fun, easy read that I would recommend to anyone who wants to put their own life in a bit of perspective.  Ms. Charlotte Hughes is a great author and I will definitely read more of her work.  This was the first time I have read one of her books and, as I stated above, I am thoroughly impressed.  She has a profound way of getting her points across while still making you laugh, and that is hard to do.  Good read, good fun, with wry shots at the lives we all try to lead; reconciling and assimilating all that is wonderful on the surface, with the boiling cauldron of unstated things that still have to be dealt with boiling beneath.  Well done, Ms. Charlotte Hughes.