PROTAGONIST: Alan Gregory
SETTING: Boulder, Colorado; New York
SERIES: #16 of 16
RATING: 3.75
To say that Dr. Alan Gregory's world is in a state of upheaval is an understatement. Still reeling from the death of his close friend and neighbor, Adrienne, he finds himself facing many emotional demands. Alan's ex-wife, Merideth, attends the memorial service for Adrienne. Although she was Adrienne's friend, she has an ulterior motive for being there. She and her fiancé have been working with a young woman named Lisa who is serving as the surrogate for their child. Lisa has disappeared, and Merideth is frantic. She asks Alan to contact their mutual friend and investigator, Sam Purdy to help. Alan and Sam have been somewhat estranged since a recent incident where their ethics didn't hold up. Despite that, both Alan and Sam become heavily involved in trying to find Lisa.
Adrienne's brother, Marty, is also at the service. He and Adrienne had a contentious relationship. Instead of relying on a family member to raise her son, Jonas, Adrienne requested that Alan and his wife, Lauren, become his guardians, which Marty seriously objects to. After much discussion, Alan agrees to allow Jonas to visit Marty and his family at their home in Long Island for the summer. Alan decides to anchor himself in New York City to be available if Jonas should need him.
And then there's the matter of Alan's marriage. He and his wife, Lauren, are going through a tough patch. Since Alan will be in New York for a prolonged period, Lauren decides to take their daughter to Amsterdam to see if she can make contact with the daughter that she put up for adoption many years before. Over the course of the book, the Gregorys' marriage is tested in ways that would never have been conceivable until recently.
The narrative mainly focuses on trying to find the missing surrogate, with the other threads woven in periodically throughout. As it turns out, Merideth's fiancé, Eric, went on a camping trip to the Grand Canyon when he was younger. There was an incident where a girl disappeared, and to this day her body has not been found. This trip ties in directly to several situations in the present day. White didn't totally play fair in providing the reader with all the background and facts required to figure out what happened, and some of the actions feel contrived.
As you can see, there's quite a lot going on in this book, and life is certainly not easy for Alan. All of these situations are dealt with reasonably well, but I found myself tiring of Alan and all his psychologizing, most especially in the scenes with his ex-wife. Every gesture and every word is loaded with meaning, which he analyzes. Thankfully, their interactions weren't a huge focus in the book. It also seemed "off" to me that Alan was so heavily involved in the search for Lisa.
Dead Time is the 16th book in the Alan Gregory series. Throughout the series, White has experimented with different approaches and that has resulted in keeping the series strong. In this one, he's moved Alan from his familiar Boulder, Colorado, milieu and placed him in several other settings. Overall, I found this book to be a competent entry in a series that I enjoy. It's not one of the stronger works, but it left me awaiting the 17th to find out where Alan and Lauren will be heading next. However, I would not recommend this book for those who haven't read the series before, as there are too many characters and situations from prior books for it to successfully stand alone.