From School Library Journal
YA?Fielding's novelistic version of "Ten Stupid Things Women Do to Mess Up Their Lives" is almost a send-up of topics heard on advice shows. The heroine, a professional family counselor, has the hots for her old high school flame even though she is happily married to a wonderful, caring guy. She refuses to see that her mother is becoming senile and her teenage daughter is rebelling; in addition, her airhead sister marries an imprisoned serial killer to whom she becomes attracted while attending his trial. Once the tabloids move on from this sensational story, Sis helps her killer husband escape from prison only to become his ultimate victim. The desire to wring all of the characters' silly necks is strong, but the author does it first, while at the same time pointing out their motivations for being so foolish. Despite possible disgust with these women's behavior, readers will find that Fielding's writing keeps them turning the pages, and good sense prevails in the end.?Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William County, VACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Kate Sinclair has problems: her sister is marrying a man accused of serial murder, she can't handle her rebellious daughter or addled mother, and a slick talker on whom she had a crush in high school has just reappeared. It's enough to send Kate to the therapist's couch?if she weren't already a therapist. Expect hard-hitting promotion for this new novel from the author of See Jane Run (LJ 3/15/91).Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Should a therapist have a family this dysfunctional? Kate Sinclair has a rebellious teenaged daughter, a mother who is growing more confused everyday, and a sister who is falling in love with a man on trial for serial murder. She also has recently met with a high school flame who seems to want to reconnect. Seasoned narrator Judith Ivey employs well-crafted regional accents to present the listener with realistic, complex characters, while giving life to their strong emotions without resorting to overstatement. Kate's growing stress and fear of sister JoLynn's romance build to a terrifying conclusion, and the intensity of the story is enhanced by Ivey's vocal strength. M.A.M. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
Fielding has carved out a successful niche for herself as a writer of psychological suspense, and her latest novel in that vein will only help secure her reputation. This tale takes the form of a wonderfully compelling testament by Kate Sinclair, a middle-aged family therapist; her husband of 24 years, Larry, is a successful builder. One fine day, Kate's unconventional sister, Jo Lynn, announces she fully intends to marry a man on trial locally for a gruesome series of murders. Colin Friendly is accused of killing 13 women, and Jo Lynn believes he is just too handsome to be guilty of such deeds. Jo Lynn attends Colin's trial, makes herself noticed, and eventually does indeed marry him. In the midst of all these well-publicized goings-on, Kate is having problems with her teenage daughter, her mother's health is declining, and, adding to it all, a man she knew before comes back into her life, only to cause trouble between Kate and her husband. As outlandish as the relationship between sister Jo Lynn and the serial killer seems, Fielding's talent makes it all quite credible. Brad Hooper


Review
"Fielding knows how to turn the screws of suspense."
(Cleveland)

"Honest, strong narration [drives] this novel of a family in turmoil to its bloody if redeeming resolution."


"Fielding has made the woman-in-jeopardy genre her own."


"An excellent piece of psychological suspense."


"Nightmarish...Fielding turns up the heat."


A main selection of the Literary Guild and the Doubleday Book Club


Review
"Fielding knows how to turn the screws of suspense."
(Cleveland)

"Honest, strong narration [drives] this novel of a family in turmoil to its bloody if redeeming resolution."


"Fielding has made the woman-in-jeopardy genre her own."


"An excellent piece of psychological suspense."


"Nightmarish...Fielding turns up the heat."


A main selection of the Literary Guild and the Doubleday Book Club


Book Description
How far will a mother go to protect her family from a madman?An unrivaled master of psychological suspense, Joy Fielding has written her most chilling and intricate novel yet--a compulsively readable look at the razor-thin line between daily domesticity and nerve-shattering terror.It had to end in blood. Family therapist Kate Sinclair, healer of lost souls, perfect wife and mother, has suddenly become trapped in a nightmare of her own. Her teenage daughter has just discovered sex, lies, and rebellion. Her ex-boyfriend has returned to threaten her marriage. Her once-peaceful hometown is being awakened by chilling headlines: Another woman is missing. Kate can sense the darkness gathering around her, can see the mistakes, the missteps, the missing pieces. She is afraid of what tomorrow will bring.Enter Colin Friendly, a man on trial for abducting and killing thirteen women--the handsome, "misunderstood" sociopath Kate's troubled sister plans to marry. Colin loves women to death. He can't wait to see Kate and the girls again. One dark night when they are home alone, disarmed, ready for bed...


From the Publisher
"Fielding knows how to turn the screws of suspense."
(Cleveland)"Honest, strong narration [drives] this novel of a family in turmoil to its bloody if redeeming resolution."
"Fielding has made the woman-in-jeopardy genre her own."
"An excellent piece of psychological suspense."
"Nightmarish...Fielding turns up the heat."
A main selection of the Literary Guild and the Doubleday Book Club


From the Inside Flap
How far will a mother go to protect her family from a madman?

An unrivaled master of psychological suspense, Joy Fielding has written her most chilling and intricate novel yet--a compulsively readable look at the razor-thin line between daily domesticity and nerve-shattering terror.

It had to end in blood.  Family therapist Kate Sinclair, healer of lost souls, perfect wife and mother, has suddenly become trapped in a nightmare of her own.  Her teenage daughter has just discovered sex, lies, and rebellion.  Her ex-boyfriend has returned to threaten her marriage.  Her once-peaceful hometown is being awakened by chilling headlines: Another woman is missing.  Kate can sense the darkness gathering around her, can see the mistakes, the missteps, the missing pieces.  She is afraid of what tomorrow will bring.

Enter Colin Friendly, a man on trial for abducting and killing thirteen women--the handsome, "misunderstood" sociopath Kate's troubled sister plans to marry.  Colin loves women to death.  He can't wait to see Kate and the girls again.  One dark night when they are home alone, disarmed, ready for bed...

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Family therapist Kate Sinclair repairs other people's troubled lives, all the while reveling in her stable marriage and handsome home. But there are demons in her past that will not stay buried forever, and the carefully constructed edifice of her life comes tumbling down when her half-sister JoLynn announces her plans to marry Colin Friendly, a man on trial for the brutal murders of thirteen Palm Beach women. Kate soon finds herself embroiled in a desperate struggle to protect her family from Colin's increasingly sinister advances. To make matters worse, her aging mother is losing her tenuous grip on reality and her rebellious daughter Sara is falling under JoLynn's wayward influence - a development that would worry Kate in the best of times, but which in this case might well prove deadly. As the strain begins to tear Kate's marriage apart, into the fray comes the smooth-talking Robert, her high-school crush, who soon displays an unhealthy interest in the results of Colin Friendly's trial.

SYNOPSIS

In a small article on page three, the Palm Beach Post reports the incident with little or no concern. A woman of 54 has gone missing. She was last seen by her neighbor. The Post would have you believe that there is nothing out of the ordinary to be concerned about, and that in fact, the woman has had a history of mental problems.

But Kate Sinclair takes notice. She knows that more than "two dozen women have disappeared from the Palm Beach area in the last five years." She's been keeping track, "not consciously, at least not at first, but after a while their numbers just started adding up, and a vague figure affixed itself to [her] conscious mind."

So begins Missing Pieces, Joy Fielding's latest novel of domestic horrors. No successful female, healthy and stable marriage, wholesome family, or beautiful home is safe from the machinations of Fielding's criminals. Her felons prey on the safety and security that we all take for granted in the average family home.

The voice in this suspense thriller is that of family therapist Kate Sinclair, who is better known in Palm Beach for repairing other people's troubled lives. But in Missing Pieces, it looks as though her own life could use a little patching. We know from the onset that this story is reflective and that something terrible has recently taken place in her life. That something had her mother fearing she was being followed; had her rebellious daughter acting up; left her marriage in shambles.... But she begins with her recount of the morning that her sister -- with a history of promiscuity and abusive husbands -- calmly announced that she planned to marry the very same Colin Friendly on trial for the serial rape, murder, and dismemberment of more than a dozen local women.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Practical Kate Sinclair, 47, a family therapist married for 24 years and the mother of two teenaged daughters, is losing control of her orderly, settled life. She fights with her rebellious elder daughter, Sara, who's 17. Her mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Even her body is betraying her, as hot flashes startle her metabolism. Meanwhile, a chance encounter with an old high-school sweetheart inflames her in a totally different way. Worst of all, though, is the infatuation of her sexy half-sister, Jo Lynn, with a man on trial for the murder of 13 women. Fielding's leisurely paced latest tale (after Don't Cry Now) of psychological suspense, written in no-frills prose and set in Florida's Palm Beach Gardens, follows Kate as she watches in horror her sister's growing involvement with Colin Friendly, sociopath and sexual sadist. Trying to protect her sister in some vague way, Kate accompanies Jo Lynn on her lovestruck daily excursions to court. Though the sisters' relationship strains credulity at times, an unexpected yet believable revelation about Jo Lynn's past explains the self-destructive behavior that has led her through three abusive marriages and into a relationship with a serial killer who eventually targets Kate's family for his particular malice. Prosaic courtroom and therapy scenes and simplistically portrayed secondary figures weigh down the storytelling, but Kates's honest, strong narration is up to the task of driving this novel of a family in turmoil to its bloody if redeeming resolution. 175,000 first printing; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections; author tour. (Aug.)

Library Journal

Kate Sinclair has problems: her sister is marrying a man accused of serial murder, she can't handle her rebellious daughter or addled mother, and a slick talker on whom she had a crush in high school has just reappeared. It's enough to send Kate to the therapist's couchif she weren't already a therapist. Expect hard-hitting promotion for this new novel from the author of See Jane Run (LJ 3/15/91).

School Library Journal