Dr. Daniel Rinaldi is a psychologist who consults with the Pittsburgh Police. His specialty is treating victims of violent crime. Kevin Merrick, a college student and victim of an armed assault, is one of these people. A fragile, troubled kid desperate for a role model and a sense of identity, Kevin has begun dressing like Rinaldi, acting like him, even mirroring his appearance. Before Daniel can … Daniel can work this through with his patient, he finds Kevin brutally murdered. Stunned, he and the police suspect that he, not Kevin, had been the intended target. And now the killer is threatening Rinaldi.
Feeling responsible, Rinaldi is determined to solve the crime. His journey takes him through a labyrinth of friends and colleagues, any one of whom may be the killer. It also includes an affair with a beautiful, free-spirited Assistant DA with secrets of her own. When Kevin’s identity as the estranged son of a Bill-Gates-like biotech giant is revealed, his murder turns into a national story, and another person turns up dead.
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Really good book
Wow! What a book!
A journey from beginning to end with twist and turns along the way
Must read selection!)))’ f
It was ok. A bit too twisted and dark for my liking. Also, I felt the story line got a bit far fetched near the end.
Set in Pittsburgh, fun to read about areas I am very familiar with.
Great book, kept me guessing!
I liked this book because I couldn’t figure out the end. Characters were well developed and engaging.
Loved this book.
I had a hard time putting this book down! I just got so caught up in reading that I didn’t realize it was 1 am on a work night! Best to save this for a weekend read.
Very good read, provides a different perspective than the usual detective novel.
Book definitely kept my attention. Recommended it to a friend.
I loved the accurate descriptions of my home town. Obviously, the author was very familiar with Pittsburgh, and that translated to a realistic story. As a psychologist, Dan was believable as well. A good story!
Written by a successful screenwriter (My Favorite Year, Welcome Back, Kotter) and therapist, Mirror Image features Dan Rinaldi, therapist and consultant to the Pittsburgh Police Department unraveling mystery after mystery. Happily, author Dennis Palumbo has followed this exceptional novel with four sequels!
A clinical psychologist who specializes in treating those who have experienced severe traumas, Dr. Daniel Rinaldi has been working with Kevin Merrick for six months, during which the troubled and previously hospitalized young man has gradually identified with Rinaldi such that he’s trying to become his therapist by stealing small items from the office and “(H)esitantly at first, and then quite blatantly, he’d begun dressing like me…His beard, without my telltale sprigs of gray, was coming in nicely….Then today, when I opened the connecting door to the waiting room for our regularly scheduled appointment, I found Kevin hanging up a dripping jacket next to mine on the standing coat rack.” The jacket is very similar to one of Rinaldi’s own.
His session with Kevin at the novel’s opening includes a significant revelation about the latter’s past, a revelation that amounts to something of a breakthrough that has been a long time coming. When the session ends, Rinaldi says, “I meant what I said in there. It took guts to reveal such an old, painful secret…” Kevin replies, “Hell, man, I got lots of secrets…”
Rinaldi never learns directly from his patient what they are because, upon departing from the office, Kevin is murdered in the parking garage beneath the building. As a sometime consultant to the Pittsburgh police department, and as a man with the kind of conscience that demands being in on the capture of the murderer, Rinaldi is not about to let up even when it’s suggested that Kevin’s resemblance to him might have made him the actual but mistaken target.
I’m loath to reveal any other details because the impeccably paced and plotted MIRROR IMAGE is fraught with multiple twists and surprises I don’t want to spoil. (I advise readers to be wary of comments at sites like Amazon, Goodreads and others of that sort because they’ll learn of some major plot points before they discover them in the novel itself, and thus ruin the surprises.)
Consequently, I’ll only point out that several other murders occur, including one for which Rinaldi is a prime suspect; that an influential, amoral billionaire who might have political ambitions plays a significant role; that Rinaldi develops an intimate but complex relationship with the very attractive Casey Walters, an assistant district attorney; that he has conflicting issues with a district attorney who aspires to a state governorship; and that some questionable business dealings might factor in to some of the aforementioned events.
Author Dennis Palumbo started out as a screenwriter, and is responsible for the wonderful film “My Favorite Year,” episodes of “Welcome Back, Kotter” and other television series. He went on to become a psychotherapist himself, so his fictional protagonist, a man who has known severe trauma himself, speaks plausibly about the patients he deals with as well as dealing with some of his own issues.
An impeccably paced and plotted whodunit/thriller with a strong sense of place, the dialogue in MIRROR IMAGE is skillfully rendered in the manner I’ve come to associate with the likes of Evan Hunter/Ed McBain and Jeremiah Healey: dialogue that individuates characters and makes them come alive and practically walk off the page. Easily one of the best mystery novels I’ve read in quite a while, and the first in the Daniel Rinaldi series I look forward to reading more of, I strongly recommend it to all but those readers who find moderately graphic (but not protracted) violent and sexual moments, as well as some street language, offensive.
© 2017 Barry Ergang
Definitely readable but a little predictable. But I really liked the protagonist and hated the bad guy…so what’s not to like?
I gave this a 2-star rating because Mr. Palumbo is actually an excellent writer. I’d put him in the professional writer category. Sadly, this book is full of “people” who are just plain crazy. The so-called professionals who work at the mental health clinic in the story, as well as the police woman, are as screwed up as the inmates. I understand that it is the “in” thing to have flawed characters now but this book just goes too far. Personally, I would not want to know any of them in real life. There is also too much sex which adds nothing to the story. I almost quit the book several times, just barely getting through it. Unless you like really screwed up people, I’d not try to read this one.
My late husband was a psychologist, who often worked with the police department in our small local town. This book was very pleasing to me and had enough turn and twists to keep the reader going all along.
I couldn’t get into this book.
Can’t stop listening to the audio version. Very intense from the start
Terrible. Absolutely unrealistic.