Mirror Image, a complex, erotic novel of suspense, is the first in a series of mysteries featuring Dr. Daniel Rinaldi, a psychologist who consults with the Pittsburgh Police. His specialty is treating victims of violent crime―those who’ve survived an armed robbery or kidnapping, but whose traumatic experience still haunts them. Kevin Merrick, a college student and victim of an armed assault, is one of these people. A fragile, troubled kid desperate for a role model, a sense of identity, Kevin has begun dressing like Rinaldi, acting like him, mirroring his appearance. Before Daniel has a chance to work this through with his patient, he finds Kevin brutally murdered. Stunned, he and the police suspect that “he, “not Kevin, had been the intended target. Feeling responsible, Rinaldi is determined to help find the killer, who’s begun leaving death threats for the psychologist. His journey takes him through a labyrinth of friends and colleagues, any one of whom may be the killer. It also includes an affair with a beautiful, free-spirited Assistant DA with secrets of her own. And when Kevin’s identity as the estranged son of a Bill Gates-like biotech giant is revealed, the investigation of his murder turns into a national story…even as another person turns up dead. A page-turning novel of suspense, Mirror Image weaves together a puzzling mystery, full of unexpected twists, with an intense, erotic love story.
Formerly a Hollywood screenwriter (My Favorite Year, Welcome Back, Kotter, etc.), Dennis Palumbo is now a licensed psychotherapist and author
His mystery fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, The Strand, and elsewhere, and is collected in From Crime to Crime.
His acclaimed series of crime novels (Mirror Image, Fever Dream, Night Terrors, Phantom Limb, and Head Wounds) feature psychologist Daniel Rinaldi, a trauma expert who consults with the Pittsburgh Police. All are from Poisoned Pen Press. For more info, visit www.dennispalumbo.com.
Dennis Palumbo, the author of Mirror Image, is both a former screenwriter, and like his fictional hero Daniel Rinaldi, is also a bearded clinical psychologist who understands human behavior. He has skillfully created both a complex mystery and a fast-paced thriller filled with surprises and a totally unexpected penultimate twist.
I highlighted so many noteworthy and memorable lines and passages that rather than repeat them all here, just do yourself a favor and read the book.
Of course, no clinical psychologist I know manages danger and derring-do like Daniel Rinaldi — which is why it’s called fiction. But having an author as gifted as Dennis Palumbo to tell his story is why it’s also called good fiction.
Hot-shot police consultant and renowned psychologist Dr. Daniel Rinaldi is in the spotlight once again, this time the good doctor is a the center of a murder investigation involving his patient --- the mysterious Kevin Merrick.
Minutes following their last session, Rinaldi enters the office garage and finds an assaulted and dying Kevin lying beside his car. Rinaldi’s initial assumption is that Kevin was a random victim, until he realizes that Kevin has switched the doctor’s jacket for his own. Lately, Kevin had began to mirror Dr. Rinaldi’s mannerisms; he adopted glasses similar to Rinaldi’s, when his vision was normal, he grew a beard shaped like the doctor’s and he began to wear the same styles and brands that Rinaldi wore. It must have been a case of mistaken identity, with the doctor as the intended victim.
When the police discover that Kevin Merrick is really Kevin Wingfield, the son of a billionaire, the ensuing confusion and continuing threats directed at the doctor, force Rinaldi to conduct his own investigation. Can Rinaldi identify the killer in time to save his own life?
In Dr. Daniel Rinaldi, Palumbo has created a humble, unconventional, wise-cracking, bad-ass psychologist who readers won’t mind hanging out with. A crime victim who specializes in treating traumatized crime victims, Rinaldi is a poster-boy for the boy from the hood who makes good. Readers will look forward to future stories starring the notorious psychologist, police consultant, and former pugilist. Rinaldi promises to have as much excitement and adventure in his private life-- his best friend and potential sidekick is schizophrenic. Readers will enjoy going along for the ride as Rinaldi uses both his wits and his fists to solve crimes.
This was just ok for me. I haven’t given a 2 star in a while because I’m very picky with what I read but this comes close. This to me was very confusing and disjointed at times. I liked the description but should have went with my gut and skipped. Oh well we live and learn. Dr has patient that mimics him and is killed in the parking lot of his office. So is it meant for the dr or is the patients past catching up with him? This has unnecessary graphic parts? I’m not by any means a prude all you have to do is read my read list to see this! But the “sex” scenes are unreal and gross and don’t add at all to the story! I say don’t bother!
This writer is from my hometown and I saw a review in the local paper. I had never heard of him and the review was pretty good so I got his first book in the Daniel Renaldi series. This book is about a murder in the local neighborhood and it's the first time I ever read a story where I recognized all of the names of streets and buildings. I enjoyed this and for a first book I liked this also. I think that he has 4 or 5 more books in this series so I guess that there will be more reviews. I gave it a 4.
Enjoyed and was pleasantly surprised by this book. I don’t remember reading about a psychologist/detective character before, but I think the concept was well executed. I felt there were a few too many characters and various crimes taking place. It made it a little harder to keep up with all the names and to build a “look” for a character in your head, only for this character to be killed soon after. I love a challenge and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
Palumbo infuses Mirror Image with a strong sense of place, and I certainly enjoyed his descriptions of Pittsburgh. Another strength is his pithy one-line descriptions of characters that often made me laugh.
Daniel Rinaldi is a strong character whose major "fault" seems to be caring too much for the welfare of others. He thinks nothing of putting himself in danger to protect someone else. As he says, "Justice and compassion. Everything else is just...talk." Throughout the book, Rinaldi provides excellent insight into both himself and the behavior of others.
Mirror Image is a strong mystery that deals with mental illness and how to make the real bad guy pay for his crimes. If there was any weakness to the story, it was Rinaldi's love interest and the-- to me-- unnecessary love scenes. It was also rather easy to identify one character's true identity. However, with those complaints out of the way, Dennis Palumbo has created a strong, sympathetic character that I enjoyed getting to know. I'm looking forward to another visit to Pittsburgh.
I wanted to give it 2 stars but I started reading the author's Writing from the Inside Out: Transforming Your Psychological Blocks to Release the Writer Within which I like so far so it made me feel kindly toward him. But it's pretty formulaic, the only wrinkle being the hero is a shrink. In fact, that's why I read it. I almost abandoned it several times. The author is a screen writer turned shrink who studied with some therapists I admire. He seems to share some of their philosophy but not as much as I would like. Anyhow, I'm going back to reading more Willeford.
This might be a 3.5 actually. I enjoyed the tour of Pittsburgh and imagined visions of the rivers coming together. The plot was breathless. How a forty year old man kept that pace makes my joints hurt. Now to find an Iron City beer….
An upbeat setting, convincing characters, and a plot that has one on the edge of one’s seat from page one—what more could a reader ask for in a crime novel? Once more, established mystery writer Dennis Palumbo has pulled off a fine fast-paced whodunnit that has one yearning for more. Set in Pittsburgh, with the backdrop of the “old Appalachian Hills, sloping away before spreading urban tendrils, looking as pristine and timeless as when the first settlers came over four hundred years ago,” the novel has such tangible atmosphere that the reader is locked into the plot by Palumbo’s versatile writing, which changes from poetic description to slick dialogue in the blink of an eye.
The characters range from the psychotic (with part of the novel being set in a psychiatric institution, which has its fair share of scary and battle-scarred inmates) to the professional (though the latter seem, at times, not to be too far off the former…). Palumbo’s own background as a psychotherapist enables him to imbue the lead character with authenticity and compassion towards the emotionally maimed and much undervalued social misfits.
Dr. Daniel Rinaldi is a clinical psychologist who specializes in treating victims of violent crime, to which he himself has also, ironically enough, been subject, with his wife having been shot in a mugging that transpired in front of his very eyes. So, in a way, he also has some emotional baggage with which to contend. Not only that, but he’s also at loggerheads with Dr. Brooks Riley, Chief Psychiatrist at Ten Oaks, the most successful private psychiatric facility in the state of Pennsylvania, who’s determined to see to it that he gets Rinaldi’s license revoked.
When a patient of Rinaldi’s opts for dressing just like him, and gets viciously stabbed to death just outside the doc’s offices, all hell breaks loose. Tracking down the suspect, naturally, forms the major impetus of the plot, though there are loads of characters whose interrelationships tend at times to be of the rockiest kind, but which, at others, reflect what true friendship is all about. The professional details regarding post-traumatic stress disorder which are neatly woven into the plot are fascinating. The characters are well-rounded and credible, with a fair amount of attraction between the sexes adding extra spice to the unfolding drama.
One cannot doubt that Palumbo has hands-on experience of the police and court proceedings which are so integral to the plot. His mystery stories have appeared in the past in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine and Written By, among other eminent journals. Mirror Image should make a great read for anyone interested in the crime genre, as long as you are open-minded enough not to mind the occasional cussing which goes with the territory.
I like to read this type of book (I also read Sandford's Prey series, Lescroart's Hardy, Flowers, etc.), and Palumbo's Rinaldi series was brought to my attention because it is set in Pittsburgh (my hometown, and where I lived for decades).
The overall writing is fine, although some of the situations and resolutions are a bit too far fetched and not as polished as in Sandford's and Lescroart's books. That's fine though, as I figured this is Book 1 and after getting some constructive criticism things would get better over time. However, what bothered me more was the practically countless "Pittsburgh" errors the author makes!
If you're going to have the setting of your books in Pittsburgh, you have to realize that you're going to get an inordinate number of Pittsburgh / Western PA residents as your readers. Not many books, movies, or TV shows are set in Pittsburgh, so when one is, if we hear about it we'll likely check it out!
Now, if you're going to create fictitious buildings, companies, etc. to further your story, that's fine. However, an author needs to get actual landmarks, geography, and other things correct! Again, first book, so I chalked it up to the author thinking that his memory of Pittsburgh was better than it is. I figured that after getting some comments he'd ensure he had an actual Pittsburgh resident/expert on hand to read future books before release to correct obvious errors (SPOILER ALERT: So far, Books 2 and 3 make pretty much all the same kinds of errors, and some new ones, so I'm baffled).
Just to name a few out of the many, you don't go to/from downtown Pittsburgh from/to Mt Washington via the Fort Pitt Bridge UNLESS it is via the Duquesne Incline (but it is not, as Rinaldi is always driving). The Pittsburgh Police Department does NOT have helicopters/air support. Vehicles in Pennsylvania do NOT have front registration plates. Pennsylvania does NOT have a "Highway Patrol," they have a State Police force (there is a difference--and for example, Ohio, California, and others are limited to Highway Patrol--not Pennsylvania though, and you'd likely offend PA State Troopers if you said they were "Highway Patrol" officers.
Not a huge deal, I know... but for the life of me I just can't figure out WHY the author would not correct these kinds of things going forward, and by all indications, he does not.
First in the series of the Daniel Rinaldi series set in Pittsburg, PA. Rinaldi is a psychologist who also works with the police as a consultant, as well as managing his own client practice. I did enjoy the profiles of clients and his work. But the action and body count, not including his murdered client and whether Rinaldi is the target for murder was over the top. It was very entertaining with lots of twists and turns and really "bad guys", as well as "good guys" and covers a lot of territory, including a psychotropic drug with questionable efficacy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Mildly diverting murder mystery. Way too predictable and, although the main character is kind of interesting, a lot of the others were cardboard cutouts. Plus, you know that annoying thing where the author can't figure out a way to let the reader know what a villain did, so s/he has the villain brag about it to his/her potential victim before killing the victim, and the victim uses that time to escape and/or overpower the villain? This novel does it three different times with three villains.
This is the first in a series, but I won't be reading any more of them.
This is by no means a long book, but I had to slog through it. Many of the characters failed to leave much of an initial impression, so when their names came up later I found myself puzzling over who they could be--again and again. If the author had paid more attention to making their first appearances more memorable, perhaps my reading experience would have been better. I found interesting turns of phrases here and there, though. Scene transitions often felt artificially poetic--another minus--but the plot was good on the whole.
Mr. Palumbo, this is the first book I have read of yours. I am sure it won't be the last. It was very interesting and actually only took me a short time to read. I really enjoyed it. Characters are very believable. I like the connection between the psychologist and police. Nice touch.
Cleverly written with great characters and a fascinating story line. The only thing i would have preferred less of was the foul language. There was one twist and turn after another. Every time I thought I had the whole thing figured out, he threw in another shocker. This is a real page turner.
"Creative beyond traditional" might be a good description of Palumbo's writing style that readers will find extremely entertaining and riveting. Full of entertaining, complex but easy-to-follow plot with unpredictable twists and turns, this is a "must read" for most reader's.
Dennis Palumbo has written an excellent mystery/thriller. He is very creative and shows us very complex charachters, Daniel Rinaldi, therapist, being the main one. Everything revolves around him and his patients. It's a fast paced page turner that you will not want to put down.
My first time reading Dennis Palumbo was an exercise in restraint. I kept wanting to jump forward to find out the end. This meant reading nonstop , except for a nights sleep, then back at it until the final chapter. What a ride! And... I didn't see that ending coming. I loved every agonizing chapter!
An excellent book! I've not read anything written by Palumbo until I got my hands on this book but this is one of those rare occasions when I stumble on an author who really cares about his readers enjoying his literary effort!
I am going to look for more of his books and I really recommend Dennis Palumbo!
Saw an interview on Between the Lines with Dennis Palumbo, so I decided to read his first novel, Mirror Image. Wasn’t disappointed by this book. Characters were great and the writing was even better. Have his most recent novel, Head Wounds in my cue to read.
Couldn’t get past the first paragraph. A 12-year-old girl forces her 8-year-old brother down between her legs to eat her. An 8-year-old boy who had already been “very good” at jacking off? Oh my word. Silliness is the best I can say about this. Learn to write.
I liked the main character, but this novel had enough plot for two books! So many murders, suicides, attacks! This is a common first book mistake, so I plan to read more in this series to see how the psychiatrist/sleuth evolves. Plus, the series is set in Pittsburgh, city of my childhood!
I made it more than half way through before giving up. Not bad, but not great - and the character of Casey is just a little too unbelievable and wrong to go on with. Her actions at the police station, and later at her apartment may be the stuff that dreams are made of, but I'm not buying it...
A good mystery with interesting twists and turns. There was more graphic sex than I like to see but it did keep the story moving. I enjoyed reading about Pittsburgh and Daniel was a interesting character. Will probably read more of this series.
Wow. Just...wow. In exquisite prose, Palumbo presents characters I care about in a superb mystery/thriller. A breathtaking twist I just plain didn't see coming occurs near the end.