The Tryst

Psychiatrist Aileen Macklin finds herself unprofessionally and mysteriously drawn to a trying patient who has witnessed a murder and who now fears someone is trying to kill him

Aileen Macklin, at 35, is trapped in a joyless marriage, and her job as a psychiatrist in an underfunded social program in Thatcher's England offers few rewards; she is "absolutely certain that she is a person to whom nothing more would ever happen." That's as tantalizing a premonition of disaster as the author of a psychological suspense novel can offer, and Dibdin quickly makes good with a tightly coiled, coolly analytical depiction of two crumbling psyches. Into Aileen's life comes a tormented teenaged patient who reminds her of a lost love and carries a troubling burden of guilt. Once a squatter, he now seeks institutionalization and resists Aileen's every effort to uncover the facts causing his terror. This dense, compact mood piece includes stories within stories within flashbacks, preventing its structure from becoming clear until the closing moments. While an ambiguous ending may irritate some readers, the sense of creeping dread that pervades the narrative is sustained superbly throughout, distinguishing this work as both a haunting thriller and as a series of harshly lit snapshots of London's dispossessed.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Echoes of Alice in Wonderland creep eerily through this short novel that moves between urban British blight and psychiatric wings of old hospitals. While the reader awaits the big moment of the title, the tryst has already happened, with repercussions reverberating throughout the novel. The plot is the amateur detective type, with Aileen, the psychologist, as detective. Steven, the boy assigned to her, is at once victim, patient, conspirator, and Aileen's aborted child. The reader, however, knows far more than Aileen. One wonders about her skill as a psychologist, not to mention her sleuthing ability. Suspense is created by lapses of memory and comprehension and by role reversals. Despite the above-mentioned flaws and an awkward structure, the novel is engaging, especially its dialog and description.
- Nancy E. Zuwiyya, Binghamton City Sch. Dist., N.Y.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.