Tell Me Who You Are

March 4, 2024
The NYPD suspects a psychiatrist of abducting a journalist who publicly denigrated her in the cunning latest from Luna (the Alice Vega series). Ellen Garcia, a staff writer at Brooklyn Bound magazine, has been missing for three days when new patient Nelson Schack tells Dr. Caroline Strange he’s thinking of killing someone she knows. Nelson’s admission isn’t specific enough to warrant a breach of doctor-patient confidentiality to inform the police—but then two detectives come knocking on Caroline’s door. Two months earlier, Ellen included Caroline on a list of the worst doctors in Brooklyn; in turn, Caroline sent a letter to the editor of Brooklyn Bound, evincing a grudge against the reporter that now resembles a motive. To exonerate herself, Caroline sells out Nelson to the police and launches her own inquiry into Ellen’s disappearance. Luna relays the bulk of the tale in Caroline’s snarky first-person, present-tense narration (“This is the moment, if I were the star of my own reality show, when I’d cast my eyes above the camera at the producer and mouth, Get me the fuck out of here”), which successfully distracts from the plot’s preponderance of coincidences. Chapters that check in on Ellen, who’s been taken captive, and flash back to Caroline’s childhood, casting doubt on her candor, ramp up the tension. Lisa Gardner fans, take note. Agent: Mark Falkin, Falkin Literary.

September 13, 2024

Psychiatrist Caroline Strange was named one of Brooklyn's worst doctors in a provocative clickbait article. Ellen Garcia, the journalist who wrote the article, vanishes, and Caroline is the chief suspect in her disappearance. It turns out that Caroline has a great deal to hide--from the police, her family, and listeners--while she pursues disturbing information surrounding a recent patient and links to her bloody past. Luna (Hideout) keeps listeners guessing through her skillful use of three unreliable narrators. Narrators Megan Tusing, Robb Moreira, and Stephanie N�meth-Parker round out these characters superbly, playing to the author's strengths at ambiguous motives and fractured psyches. Tusing's Caroline blends self-righteousness and contempt for her clients; listeners can easily understand why a few would volunteer information for the tabloid article. Narrating Ellen's perspective from captivity, N�meth-Parker showcases the horror of slow starvation and psychological torture, a chilling reminder of the life at stake. Finally, Gordon Strong, voiced by Moreira with blue-collar masculinity so brittle it may break, seems incongruous at first, but his importance to Caroline's story gradually becomes clear, leaving listeners eager for more revelations. VERDICT For fans of intense psychological thrillers in the vein of Stacy Willingham's A Flicker in the Dark.--Lauren Kage

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