Peter Abrahams, Nerve Damage

Nerve Damage

Peter Abrahams

Morrow, Mar, 2007, $24.95

ISBN: 0061137979

Though his wife Delia died fifteen years ago when her helicopter crashed during a mission sponsored by the Hobbes Institute in Honduras, Vermont sculptor Roy Valois still deeply grieves her death. Since that tragedy he has kept to himself, almost a recluse as he only makes contact when he absolutely has too.

Now Roy is dying from asbestos poisoning that he was exposed to as a child; his doctor affirms he has no more than four months of life left. A comment he overhears has Roy looking at his already-written New York Times obituary where he finds a tiny inaccuracy re the Hobbes Institute. He feels strongly though it is a minor misconception that he owes his beloved Delia a correction until he realizes the entry is correct and his knowledge as to who Delia was in error, a major fabrication established by his late spouse.

Inside an action-packed thriller, NERVE DAMAGE is a deep look at how much we really know about loved ones. Roy's obsession to clean up the END OF STORY before he goes to OBLIVION drives the plot as he begins to uncover a truth of what lies BEHIND THE CURTAIN of his late wife's life that makes him feel he FELL DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE. Readers understand his motives while also obtaining the changing way he sees Delia. Peter Abrahams provides the audience with a strong psychological tale of a man whose revelations shake his deteriorating body to the bone marrow.

Harriet Klausner