Manhattan psychologist and best-selling author Dr. David Remler finds his life forever changed by a beautiful new patient who sets him up to take the fall for the brutal murder of her seemingly abusive husband, forcing him to play a deadly game of deception and betrayal to find the truth. 75,000 first printing. David Remler, a successful and talented psychologist, takes on a new patient. Samantha Kent is the beautiful, troubled wife of a Wall Street businessman; she is afraid of him and sometimes even feels like she wants to kill him. Then, early one morning, Remler gets a distressed phone call that leads him to three rather unsettling discoveries. One, Sam Kent's husband is dead: murdered. Two, the woman he knew as Sam Kent is not the murdered man's wife. And three, Remler is being framed for murder. Roughan's second novel (after The Up and Comer , 2001) is compulsively readable: sharply drawn characters, dialogue that seems effortlessly realistic, and a solid, suspenseful story. The author doesn't write with any special flair, but that's OK: this story doesn't need any. A smart, thoroughly engaging thriller. David Pitt Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "...non-stop suspense with a terrific set-u[ and clever twists...Roughan is a great new talent..." -- Phillip Margolin, New York Times bestselling author "THE PROMISE OF A LIE is a knockout thriller with one of the most suspenseful courtroom sequences I've read." -- James Patterson, New York Times bestselling author Howard Roughan's debut, The Up and Comer, was hailed as one of the most hip and entertaining thrillers of the year. Now Roughan returns at full stride with a scintillating novel of deception that begins when a gifted young psychologist becomes entangled in the life of a beautiful and calculating patient. THE PROMISE OF A LIE Nothing can prepare Dr. David Remler for the shocking phone call he receives from a patient named Samantha Kent. Stunned and anxious to help, he rushes out into the Manhattan night to keep a bloody act of violence from spinning further out of control. He knows he is too involved, that he's crossed a line, and that his professional reputation is at stake. But he has no idea what awaits him at his destination...that he's become a pawn in a very deadly game of revenge. Suddenly the focus of a criminal case that flares into an out-of-control media circus, David has only one shot to clear his name. But first he has to clear up the mystery of his patient, Samantha Kent. Just who is she? And why did she choose to involve David? Little by little, the outlines of a brilliant plot emerge and, with it, the horrifying power of a single lie In this richly textured tale of a man's battle against the mother of all manipulations, the perfect setup is even more diabolical than it looks. Howard Roughan lives in Weston, Connecticut.