MINDSPELL

by Kay Nolte Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 20, 1983

Reincarnation is just about the most plausible explanation in this contrived new melodrama by the author of The Watcher and Catching Fire: the headache-inducing stew here also includes mediums, Satanism, secret births and deaths, baby-switchings, and rampant schizophrenia. Smith's not-very-engaging heroine is Cayla Hayward, 35, President of Connecticut's Hayward Industries--which is a pioneer in gene therapy. (One source of padding throughout is an irrelevant science/religion debate concerning DNA doings.) And Cayla's upset when she hears about a Pennsylvania woman who goes into trances, speaking in the voice of Kella Hagaward, a 17th-century Scottish witch and Hayward-family ancestor. After all, Cayla's grandma is hysterically paralyzed (despite analysis with Freud himself), her mother's in the loony-bin--and the trance-woman's spells only seem to reinforce the notion that there's a family curse. So Cayla seeks out ""cognitive therapist"" Stefan Veere, the offspring of mediums, who's famous for exposing paranormal scams. Together they investigate the Pennsylvania woman, looking for connections to the Hayward family. Stefan uncovers a super-coincidental connection between Cayla's grandma (whom he hypnotizes) and his grandma, the medium. The clues include toenail parings (from six toes) and secret letters. The focus eventually comes to rest, for a while, on Grandma's nurse/companion--who's exposed as a deranged Satanist with connections to that Pennsylvania woman. And finally, while Cayla and Stefan finally achieve their inevitable consummation, Cayla learns The Truth about her institutionalized mother, makes a pro-science speech in the Senate. . . and Stefan explains All on a Phil-Donahue-style TV show. Talky and slow, with little action and lots of potted (often-distorted) psychology: a gnarled melo-psychogothic mess, but slickly written enough to engage fanciers of the genre.

Pub Date: June 20, 1983

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1983

Categories: FICTION