STONEPORT

An eye-opening look at the world of psychology told through a complicated romance.

Eli Fox, a family therapist, is proud of his chosen career path: “an earthy profession [that] traveled less pretentious terrain than either the skybound gods of medicine or the…abstract land of testing and personality schemes.” He follows his internal commander, a definitive internal voice that guides him through the complicated maze of administering therapy. Eli’s days are spent working with his fellow staff and guiding not only his patients, but a married doctor named Meagan Rush, a young woman Eli supervises as she learns the ropes. Eli and Meagan, two committed professionals, are eager to learn from one other and help each other succeed, but soon, their chemistry overtakes them. As Eli and Meagan’s sexual relationship escalates, the two struggle to preserve their working relationship. Determined to keep certain boundaries, the two maintain a painful, teasing dance, until Eli withdraws from the liaison. She decides to take dramatic action within her own marriage and ends up in trouble with the law, eventually dragging Eli down with her. As the drama heightens and a man with ambiguous morals takes over the institute, the corruption lurking behind the idealistic therapists begins to surface. Hidden resentments and unseemly intentions threaten to derail the therapy industry. Fraught with tension, this psychological novel delves into the study of human behavior while emphasizing its intricacies through a broken romance. Anderson highlights weaknesses and buried sensitivities as he uncovers the darkness within the patients as well as their therapists. While the story’s pace quickens toward its conclusion, psychology, ethics and the law get tangled up in a gripping tale of self-destructive behavior.

A substantive, multilayered story of sexual tension and betrayal.