Cornered: Dr. Richard J. Sharpe as I Knew Him

by Linda DeFruscio

In the year 2000, Linda DeFruscio was forced to make an unthinkable decision. Someone whose genius she admired immensely, a business associate and dear friend, committed a terrible crime. In response, she could cut off their friendship and avoid the risk of losing friends, clients and her own peace of mind—or, she could trust her gut and try to save some aspect of her friend's humanity.

Cornered is Linda DeFruscio's story of her long and often complex association with Dr. Richard J. Sharpe, the millionaire dermatologist from Gloucester, MA who was convicted of killing his wife. Beautifully written and surprisingly tender, Cornered allows the reader an upfront view of the fragility of genius and the decline into madness, all while casting a second light on how one woman’s refusal to turn her back resulted in momentous changes in her own life.

“...Cornered is an impossible-to-put-down psycho-thriller and one of the best books I have read.”
~ Joseph A. Russo, M.D., F.A.C.S., Plastic Surgeon

“The mistakes and dysfunctions of the adults surrounding Linda DeFruscio in her youth paved the way for the inordinate compassion she displays as an adult. While her story uncovers much about the nature of mental illness, it also reveals the power of tolerance, mercy and love.”
~ Joan Heartwell, author of the memoir Hamster Island

266 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 5, 2015

Reviews

[Joan Schweighardt]

This is a great story, a memoir that is a true psychological thriller. The author, an electrologist from the Boston area, has a dermatologist business associate whom she admires very much, because he is incredibly smart, very kind to her, and an asset to her business and the businesses of the other skin care specialists in her area. She gets to know him and his family quite well. But when his marriage falls apart and he, in a fit of passion, kills his wife and immediately becomes a desperate man, a hopeless genius really, she must decide whether she will continue to befriend him on some level or denounce him completely as has everyone else who once knew him and profited from his ingenuity. As the author tells his story, she also reveals her own story, and she is quite a remarkable person to get to know.