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"The sign above the workbench in the explosives shed read, 'Safety is the product of planning, discipline, and control. If you plan well, deploy with discipline, and control your charges, you will be safe.' But what if you don't care if you're safe? What if you're willing to go out with the blast?"
There are people out there with a mission so personal, so important, that their own lives are incidental to the larger cause. Over the past several months the world has witnessed the awful destruction such zealots can wreak. But here these words aren't found in an al Qaeda compound. They're found in a shed used by a disenchanted young man not a decade out of high school near Boulder, Colorado, a shed filled with assorted bomb components. He believes that he has been cheated by the court system --- his mother's death unpaid for, the responsible parties inadequately punished. He hooks up with another angry youth as ill used by American justice as himself, and the local District Attorney is the first to die, bludgeoned to death in his own home.
In Colorado the ghosts of Columbine linger, a tragedy some say might have been averted had folks recognized the signals that foreshadowed the violence. Did the children leave hints of what they were about to do? Could anyone have guessed their horrific plans? Fortunately, in WARNING SIGNS, one mother discovers information about her child that terrifies her to the point of panic. Torn by opposing allegiances, she seeks the help of Dr. Alan Gregory, a clinical psychologist. What she discloses embroils him in a fierce struggle between himself and his medical ethics. Many lives could be in danger, but does patient confidentiality preclude him from reporting what he suspects? If that isn't bad enough, he faces a worse dilemma yet: Some of the potential targets are people he cares about. Afraid to take action, but more afraid not to, Dr. Gregory weighs the pluses and minuses, the potential of ruining his career is not the worst of the consequences he fears.
For much of the book we know who's involved and a lot of what they're doing, but that in no way diminishes the constant tension. There are more twists and turns in the story than a mountain road in the Rockies. The author grabs your attention early and doesn't let go. Each chapter builds with a nerve-wracking crescendo toward the unsuspected conclusion. When the finger ultimately points out the DA's murderer, you're bound to be surprised. Who would have guessed? Motives abound and alibis endure. You can check and recheck the dark corners for clues. You may comprise lists and remember myriad details. Still, the solution will shock you.
Luckily, for fans of Stephen White's psychologist sleuth, he will live to crack another case.
--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers
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