Better to Trust

by Heather Frimmer

Overview

When trust is violated, can it ever be recovered?

Alison Jacobs needs brain surgery and places ultimate trust in her sister's husband, Grant Kaplan, a world-renowned neurosurgeon and expert in treating her condition. But Grant is hiding a dark secret which threatens the outcome: an addiction to prescription pills. As Alison struggles to rebuild her life, Grant's daughter, Sadie, spends more time with a new friend. Frustrated that her parents exclude her from the conversations about her beloved aunt, Sadie makes increasingly risky choices which could endanger not only her, but her entire family.

Alison is also harboring her own secret-an extramarital affair with a woman. Her close call with mortality spurs her to take a closer look at her marriage, explore her newfound sexuality and figure out what she wants for her future. How will she rebuild her life and move forward? Can she find a way to repair her broken relationship with her only sister?

Secrets swirling around drug use and sexual identity must be dealt with in order for the family to learn to trust each other again.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781954332034
Publisher:	Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing
Publication date:	09/21/2021
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.72(d)

About the Author

Heather Frimmer is a radiologist specializing in breast and emergency room imaging. Her first novel, Bedside Manners, was published in 2018 and has received several awards including National Indie Excellence, Readers' Favorite, and Independent Press awards. She completed her medical training at Weill-Cornell Medical College, New York Presbyterian-Cornell, and Yale New Haven Hospital. She lives with her husband and two children in suburban Connecticut.

Petrea Burchard grew up in northern Illinois, where farm meets university, making her a townie with a love for animals, nature, and books. She started reading as soon as she figured out how and has been an actor since she could get anyone to pay attention.

Petrea's stage experience covers everything from Second City comedy to Shakespeare, and her resume includes television, film, and voice-over work. Petrea earned a bachelor's degree in creative writing with a double minor in theater and French. Along with numerous articles and short stories she has published a time-slip novel, Camelot & Vine, and a book of comic essays, Act As If: Stumbling Through Hollywood with Headshot in Hand, about being a journeyman actor in Hollywood. When she's not narrating audiobooks in her Los Angeles home studio, Petrea loves to travel. But a hike in the mountains with her husband and their pit bull, Melly, is as good as a weekend in Paris.

Editorial Reviews

2021-05-28
A woman’s traumatic illness and recovery prompt her to reexamine her life in this novel.

At the start of Frimmer’s story, 38-year-old teacher Alison Jacobs abruptly collapses, gets rushed to her local hospital, and feels very weak and woozy even after she regains consciousness. Preliminary examinations reveal bleeding in her brain, presenting an urgent need for surgery. Although grave news, there is a silver lining: Her sister’s husband, Grant Kaplan, is an expert neurosurgeon and has a good deal of experience with cases like hers. The operation proceeds, and although it seems successful, it fundamentally changes Alison’s life. Her long healing process almost totally impairs her, leaving her heavily reliant on the in-home caregiver who helps her with everything from eating to getting out of bed and using the bathroom. The novel deftly dramatizes Alison’s experiences with recovery and rehabilitation. During this difficult time, she and her friends are following in the local newspaper the story of a man suing Grant for malpractice. The patient claims he was harmed during exactly the kind of brain operation Grant performed on Alison. This development naturally raises uncomfortable questions about whether or not some of Alison’s own postoperative symptoms are Grant’s fault. Alongside this main tale, Frimmer works in subplots involving Grant and Alison’s niece, Sadie. The author does a very smooth and readable job of shifting the narrative point of view among these three players. Grant is almost immediately revealed as a fairly unsympathetic character, an arrogant showboater with a slightly unfeeling air. “He relished the sound of the pneumatic drill as it tunneled through the bone,” readers are told at one point, “the sharp pop as the scalpel pierced the dura, and the familiar smell of bone dust in the air.” Far more appealing and intriguing is Alison’s transformation, both medical and personal, as the narrative progresses. Frimmer chronicles this multipart drama with warmth and a sharp narrative intelligence, and although Sadie’s plot strand is noticeably weaker than the others, even there the story’s tender humanity saves the day.

A thoughtful and multifaceted tale of recuperation and reinvention.

Kirkus Reviews