Tears Are Only Water

Who is the face at Carmine’s window, and why won’t she let him sleep?

You must read J. Herman Kleiger’s psychologically textured mystery to find out. Tears Are Only Water entwines a complex and twisty plot with the raw journey of breakdown, healing, and transformation.

“With its suspenseful plot and eccentric characters, Tears Are Only Water simultaneously instructs and delights, like all powerful art.”
––Dr. Jeffrey Berman, Distinguished Teaching Professor, SUNY–Albany Psychoanalytic Memoires, Bloomsbury Academic, 2022

Carmine Luedke, a shy, narcoleptic bookkeeper hides from the world and comforts himself by reciting arcane mathematical equations and proofs. Unable to stay awake during the day, he works through the night balancing the books. But suddenly, the numbers aren’t adding up….

One fateful night, an unexpected and shocking reunion with a long-lost friend he believed to be dead sends shockwaves through Carmine's carefully crafted routine. She arrives with an urgent plea and vanishes into thin air, leaving him with more questions than answers. Desperate for clarity, Carmine's life spirals into chaos, and he withdraws from the world, struggling to make sense of it all. His self-absorbed older sister, a battle-hardened deputy, and a wise Navajo Elder all attempt to reach him, but the question remains: is it already too late?

Just like Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night and Nelson's Bound, the characters grapple with their emotional scars, forcing readers to ponder whether it's better to confront their past or bury it.

Download Tears Are Only Water now to find out if anyone can help Carmine uncover the identity of the face at his window and discover the truth about himself.

"Far from a “who dunnit,”Kleiger delivers a page-turning novel about a man’s desperate cry to be heard amid the fear of drowning in one’s silent tears."
—Jed Yalof, Psy.D., Professor Emeritus, Immaculata University

About the Author
From the author of the novel, The 11th Inkblot, James Kleiger, senior psychologist and psychoanalyst, has published six professional books on the Rorschach Test, psychosis, and bipolar disorders.

“Kleiger has given us a mystery within a mystery, a poignant and cautionary tale of the dangers of compartmentalizing our feelings and running from our pasts.”
––Diane Tarnoff, M.A., MBA, Ft. Collins, CO