Review: The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose

Hardcover: 416 pages

Publisher: Mira; 1 edition (May 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0778326756
ISBN-13: 978-0778326755

From the inside cover:

"Haunted by a twenty year-old murder of a beautiful young painter, Lucian Glass keeps his demons at bay through his fascinating work as a special agent with the FBI's Art Crime Team. Currently investigating a crazed art collector who has begun destroying prized masterworks, Glass is thrust into a bizarre hostage negotiations that takes him undercover at the Phoenix foundation-dedicated to the science of past life study-where, in order to maintain his cover, he agrees to submit to the treatment of a hypnotist.

Under hypnosis, Glass travels from ancient Greece to nineteenth-century Persia, while the case takes him from New York to Paris and the movie capital of the world. These journeys will change his very understanding of reality, lead him to question his own sanity and land him at the center of perhaps the most audacious art heist in history-the theft of a 1,500 year-old sculpture from the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

My Thoughts:  Although I haven't read the two preceding books, The Reincarnationist and The Memorist  I certainly plan to. The Hypnotist is a stand alone novel and I had no problem getting right into the characters  but I understand Lucian's story started in the previous books. When a book makes me want to read further about some of the plot's subjects, then I feel the author has done an amazing job. Reincarnation, ancient beliefs and the history of searching for antiquities was most interesting to  me.

The Hypnotist is a mesmerizing story with a complicated, ingenious plot that had me practically glued to the pages from the very beginning until the end. No lags in the action and not a dry spot to be seen. Twists enough to satisfy any thriller reader. It was all riveting!

 After reading so many exciting plot lines that eventually all converged together, M.J. Rose will be going on my favorite author list. What a talented writer! I just loved the characters Rose breathed life into, the several plot lines and the exotic settings. To sum it up, I just loved the book. 5*****

About the author: ( from author's website) M.J. Rose, is the international bestselling author of 11 novels;Lip Service, In Fidelity, Flesh Tones, Sheet Music, Lying in Bed, The Halo Effect, The Delilah Complex, The Venus Fix,The Reincarnationist, The Memorist and The Hypnotist.

Rose is also the co-author with Angela Adair Hoy of How to Publish and Promote Online, and with Doug Clegg of Buzz Your Book. She is a founding member and board member of International Thriller Writers and the founder of the first marketing company for authors: AuthorBuzz.com. She runs two popular blogs; Buzz, Balls & Hype and Backstory.

Getting published has been an adventure for Rose who self-published Lip Service late in 1998 after several traditional publishers turned it down. Editors had loved it, but didn't know how to position it or market it since it didn't fit into any one genre. Frustrated, but curious and convinced that there was a readership for her work, she set up a web site where readers could download her book for $9.95 and began to seriously market the novel on the Internet. After selling over 2500 copies (in both electronic and trade paper format) Lip Service became the first e-book and the first self-published novel chosen by the LiteraryGuild/Doubleday Book Club as well as being the first e-book to go on to be published by a mainstream New York publishing house.

Rose has been profiled in Time magazine, Forbes, The New York Times, Business 2.0, Working Woman, Newsweek and New York Magazine. Rose has appeared on The Today Show, Fox News, The Jim Lehrer NewsHour, and features on her have appeared in dozens of magazines and newspapers in the U.S. and abroad, including USAToday, Stern, L'Official, Poets and Writers and Publishers Weekly.

Rose graduated from Syracuse University and spent the '80s in advertising. She was the Creative Director of Rosenfeld Sirowitz and Lawson and she has a commercial in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. She lives in Connecticut with Doug Scofield, a composer, and their very spoiled dog, Winka.

Disclosure: A review copy of the book was provided by Mira Books through VBT.