From almost the first page, Sarah Pekkanen's THE WOMEN IN WHITE is both compelling and gripping, and we feel connected to Riley Bell. Her first-person narrative in the present grounds us as we read some chapters narrated in the third person about the four other women who are also at the center of this fascinating story about research into psychic abilities. 

Pekkanen's talents for flawlessly juxtaposing the narrations and juggling the different time periods make the story flow perfectly as we are riveted by what is happening to the characters. In 1964, Betty, Kathleen, Ivy and Helen were recruited to work with Dr. Silas Trimble in his laboratory. Each woman has her own reason for participating, and each of their lives will be irrevocably changed by the experience.

In the present, we meet Riley as she interviews for a job with the reclusive Betty Sadler, who uses a wheelchair and lives in a home that seems to have been perfectly preserved in the 1960s. There's no internet, modern furniture, microwave or television --- nothing to show that 60 years have passed since Betty first moved into the house. Riley is coming out of a terrible divorce caused by her husband's gambling addiction. She thinks she still loves him but also knows she can't stay with him. His problems and the divorce have left her penniless. She is living out of her car and is relieved when Betty offers her the job.

"THE WOMEN IN WHITE is a mystery that has it all.... Sarah Pekkanen is at her best as she keeps complex timelines, an exciting plot and admirable characters in perfect play."

Riley isn't sure why Betty needs her. She seems very capable, sharp, and able to cook and take care of herself. But they form a friendship, and slowly Riley learns that Betty has no one. When Betty asks her to go back to the college she attended to see if Riley can locate any of the three women who were her best friends at that time, things change. At the college, Riley finds that records have been hidden, and there is nothing to indicate that the other ladies existed. She senses that something is off here, even though she is not accustomed to trusting her sixth sense when it comes to situations like this.

There are several mysteries to be solved. Why did Betty hire Riley when there were many more qualified people interested in the position? What happened to Betty's best friends who worked with her at Trimble's lab day and night? Why have records disappeared recently, and who might be behind that? And then there's the most dangerous question of all: Has someone resurrected the experiments, and for what purpose?

Through the third-person narratives, we learn a lot about the other women, their strengths and their insecurities. Each was personally chosen for the lab work by Trimble, except for Betty. And all of them, including Betty, have psychic experiences from their past that they were told by friends or family members to forget, ignore or bury. Things happened to them that couldn't be explained and might make people look at them differently.

Betty was married to Douglas, who worked in Trimble's lab. She was very happy in her marriage and looked forward to when they would have children. In the meantime, like Ivy and Kathleen, she strived to be the perfect wife, 1960s-style --- having dinner ready and a cocktail made for her husband when he arrived home from work, keeping the house clean, and attending her classes at the college. Those were the duties of a good wife in 1964. Helen was the only one of the four who was not married, and she had a secret that she didn't share with the others. 

Pekannen shows Trimble's increasing fanaticism as he starts having the women wear the same clothing and eventually stay together in the basement of the laboratory building. His determination for complete control over them in order to bend them to his will is frightening. And it's believable because of how cleverly Pekannen has created context for the four ladies to want to comply with Trimble's demands. 

Betty does it because her husband works for Trimble. Ivy must participate because her husband was hired by the college to be a football coach at Trimble's behest as he wanted Ivy to be part of the experiments. Helen was persuaded to come after Trimble read an article about her abilities, and she was glad to leave her poor-paying job to live in a dorm room with three meals a day. Kathleen does it because her husband respects it, and she thinks it's important. Their psychic abilities help them to understand each other, and their bond is even more cohesive than they otherwise might have been.

But when Riley finds out what happened to the other three women, and when she realizes that the secrets surrounding the psychic experiments are not just rooted in the past, she wonders what Betty's quest might have unleashed. While Betty and Riley have their own individual strengths, as with the four “women in white,” there is power in numbers. Will they be powerful enough together to vanquish the evil that is pursuing them?

THE WOMEN IN WHITE is a mystery that has it all. It's based on a fascinating period in time when women wore heels and lipstick and catered to men; when prestigious universities --- and even the CIA --- were delving into psychic phenomena; and when, because of the lack of an information highway, it was easier to hide events that were best locked away in secret closets or in cold, damp basements. These are people we really come to know and care about. And there is an evil that seems to have been lurking unseen, ready to torture more women in the name of psychic research.

Sarah Pekkanen is at her best as she keeps complex timelines, an exciting plot and admirable characters in perfect play.