Time Bomb

The cheerful chaos of a California schoolyard is shattered one autumn day by a sniper's gunfire. No children are hurt, but the sniper is gunned down by the bodyguard of a politician visiting the school-and LAPD Detective Milo Sturgis calls in his friend, child psychologist Dr. Alex Deleware, to help the children deal with the trauma that's invaded their lives. The shock of the incident is quickly followed by another stunning suprise:the identity of the sniper. As the media feed the public's curiosity with a profile of the stereotypical lone assassin, Alex recieves a second plea for help-the time from the sniper's father, Mahlon Burden. He begs Alex to conduct a "psychological autopsy," an investigation he is certain will clear his family's name. Alex intrigued by the chance to explore intimately the forces that created such a twisted mentality and knows that uncovering the sniper's motivations could help the children deal with the shooting. But he is disturbed by the motives of a father who seems to self-involved to mourn. And Alex's role in the aftermath of the shooting's aftermath is already complicated by his strong attraction to Linda Overstreet, the Nathan Hale Elementary School's principal-a courageous, feisty young woman with secrets of her own. Then there are the puzzling attempts made by a local politician to force Alex to step aside and let a slick psychotherapist with a canned feel-good message take over the children's therapy. Nathan Hale Elementary School has been the object of fierce hostilities ever since the busing of inner-city children to its suburban setting began, but as Alex becomes ever more deeply involved, he discovers that a wider net of malice has been cast-one that reaches far beyond the school and may already have claimed innocent lives. Before long, his relentless probing will make Alex himself the target of an obsessive and consuming hatred-and the catalyst for its eruption into violence. Copyright 1990 by Jonathan Kellerman. Published by Random House Publishing.