Owen Delaney is a man who, mired in a deep depression after the death of his mother, and having a history a profound claustrophobia, finds himself in the middle of an investigation into two seemingly innocent and unrelated deaths. What he fails to realize is that his investigation might place him in situations that will feed into this fear, and possibly get him killed. He receives assistance from a law school buddy and the sister of one of the dead women, but they have trouble believing Owen’s hypothesis, which does not bode well when he takes his suspicions to the police.
Portions of this novel read well and pull the reader in, but it doesn’t quite ignite that tension spark that keeps them riveted to the story. The individual character development is basic, lacking the depth necessary to give readers the cues necessary to help them remember each character as they reappear throughout the story. While the one outstanding characteristic readers are given about the protagonist is that he has blond hair, and that women love touching it, other characters in the story aren’t given this kind of cue. Settings and landmarks do not read accurately. The primary setting is Philadelphia with secondary locations in New Jersey; at one point, Caffrey provides the name of a town in New Jersey as the location of one accident, but then has his protagonist muse on whether cops in Philadelphia or in “South Jersey” will have jurisdiction. Readers would assume that since this named town has already been determined, their department would lead the investigation.
SHOCK TREATMENT is an enjoyable, engaging and suspenseful read that explores the worlds of depression, claustrophobia and criminal activity.
~IndieReader.