Flirting with Pete

May 5, 2003
Cassandra (Casey) Ellis, 34, a single, successful psychotherapist, is the newest of this prolific romance writer's heroines. The novel opens with a memorial service for Dr. Cornelius Unger, a brilliant and reclusive psychologist who is also Casey's father. She never knew him personally, since she was the product of her mother's single encounter with Unger, and is shocked to learn that Dr. Unger has left her a $3 million townhouse on Boston's Beacon Hill, complete with a maid, Meg, and a gardener, Jordan. Casey has always felt hostile toward her famous, mysterious father, even though her mother never expressed any anger. She's uneasy at first about living in a luxurious house haunted by her father's presence, but soon finds its meticulously attended gardens a source of relief from professional stress and the emotional turmoil of caring for her mother, left comatose after a recent accident. Moreover, she is attracted to handsome, virile Jordan. While she's rooting through Dr. Unger's personal papers, she comes across the story of Jenny Clyde, a young woman in her 20s who was abused by her father for years before being rescued by a police officer. Casey becomes intrigued: is this incestuous relationship fiction or one of Dr. Unger's case histories? Why did her father leave it for her to find? Delinsky (The Woman Next Door,
etc.) weaves Jenny's story through the novel, and meshes her and Casey's fates in a melodramatic climax. Both stories have some lapses in credibility and underdeveloped supporting characters (Meg is particularly weak), but the plot is more sophisticated and fast-moving than some of Delinsky's earlier work. It will satisfy her fans and may even win her some new readers. Agent, Amy Berkower.

July 7, 2003
Audio reviews reflect PW's assessment of the audio adaptation of a book and should be quoted only in reference to the audio version. Fiction FLIRTING WITH PETE Barbara Delinsky, read by Linda Emond. Simon & Schuster Audio, abridged, four cassettes, 5 hrs., $26 ISBN 0-7435-2989-8 Narrator Emond effectively performs two intertwining stories in Delinsky's latest. The product of a one-night stand, Casey Ellis has followed her father's career as an acclaimed psychologist from afar, although he has never acknowledged Casey as his daughter. When he dies and leaves his townhouse to Casey, she is stunned. Exploring the rooms, she finds a manuscript about a troubled teen named Jenny, who was physically abused by her mother and sexually abused by her father. The father served a six-year term in prison for murdering the mother, and as the manuscript begins, is about to be released from prison. The terrified Jenny looks to escape with a mysterious stranger named Pete. While Casey looks for clues to Jenny's identity and fate, and how it all ties in with her father, she simultaneously finds romance with Jordan, a gardener who turns out to be an undercover detective also tied in with Jenny. Emond reads in a warm, sympathetic tone, best at voicing Jenny, the vulnerable, anxious teenager. She does not create distinctive character voices, but she does deepen her voice slightly for the male characters and, during conversations, alters her voice enough to alert listeners to which character is speaking. Simultaneous release with the Scribner hardcover (Forecasts, May 5).