The Hypnotist's Love Story
A Novel
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4.1 • 1.7K Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
FROM THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF BIG LITTLE LIES AND HERE ONE MOMENT
A “sharp and funny romantic tale.”—O, the Oprah Magazine
Ellen O’Farrell is a professional hypnotherapist who works out of the eccentric beachfront home she inherited from her grandparents. It’s a nice life, except for her tumultuous relationship history. She’s stoic about it, but at this point, Ellen wouldn’t mind a lasting one. When she meets Patrick, she’s optimistic. He’s attractive, single, employed, and best of all, he seems to like her back. Then comes that dreaded moment: He thinks they should have a talk.
Braced for the worst, Ellen is pleasantly surprised. It turns out that Patrick’s ex-girlfriend is stalking him. Ellen thinks, Actually, that’s kind of interesting. She’s dating someone worth stalking. She’s intrigued by the woman’s motives. In fact, she’d even love to meet her.
Ellen doesn’t know it, but she already has.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty takes a walk in a stalker’s shoes. When her new boyfriend’s lovelorn ex keeps popping up, professional hypnotist Ellen finds herself pondering at what point the inability to let go spills over into inappropriate harassment. With tight plotting and nuanced character development, Moriarty leads the two women at the center of The Hypnotist’s Love Story on an unnerving, thrilling collision course driven by cold-blooded fear…as well as openhearted empathy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Moriarty's intriguing follow-up to What Alice Forgot, Ellen O'Farrell is a hypnotherapist in Australia who becomes romantically involved with Patrick, a single father and widower with a troubling secret: he has a stalker ex-girlfriend Saskia. Instead of being disturbed, Ellen is curious about Saskia, wondering who she is, why she's stalking Patrick, and if she, Ellen, could ever love anyone enough to stalk them for three years. Soon, Ellen discovers more than she was expecting: after three months of dating, she's pregnant with Patrick's child; Patrick wants to get married; and Saskia has been a patient of hers (under a pseudonym) since Ellen started her relationship with Patrick. Ellen and Patrick (and his son Jack) move in together, but Saskia doesn't stop, a problem abetted by Ellen's inquisitiveness and frustration about Patrick's comparisons of Ellen to his dead wife, Colleen. As Saskia's antics become increasingly aggressive, Ellen soon realizes that their bizarre situation has crossed into dangerous territory. Ellen's voice is compelling and believable, and readers will appreciate Moriarty's deft conveyance of a potentially trite topic into the realm of good storytelling.
Customer Reviews
A story that grows on you
Revealing and funny descriptions about he way people observe their own social interactions and deal with loss.
Very predictable
The characters were two dimensional. I’ve read several books by this author and they are starting to feel very formulaic. I don’t think I will read more of her work.
Superb!
This was such an interesting and thoughtful story, and such a page turner! I enjoyed it immensely, it’s the kind of book that makes you sad you’ve finished it!