Trance

by Stanley Morgan

Paul Drummond, forensic hypnotist, is called in by his friend, Detective Dick Gage of the LA Police, to obtain information under hypnosis from the amnesiac victim of a bank robbery. It soon becomes apparent, however, that Tom Keegan's memory blank began long before the crime, and relates to a much more serious trauma. In a deep trance, Keegan reveals a vision that has tormented him for 20 years. It clearly has something to do with the Vietnam war, yet the conscious Keegan remembers nothing about even being there.

Meanwhile, in the US election, Jack Crane, a charismatic war hero, is pulling ahead on the final straight against his liberal rival Milton Byrne. Nothing stands between Crane and the White House, until Drummond takes Keegan to his valley home for some more thorough psychological examination and begins to suspect that his patient's mind has been tampered with. What's more, Jack Crane might have something to do with it...

Together with Gage and the LA Times reporter Karen Beale, Drummond embarks on a quest for the truth... soon to become a struggle for survival – their survival – as the election clock ticks. What is locked in Keegan’s subconscious and who are the powerful forces lined up against Drummond to suppress the secrets his hypnotherapy threatens to reveal?

450 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006