Compound fractures

I'm so sad to see the end of this book series. Alan, Sam, and Lauren feel like old friends after following them for 20 books. While there were aspects of this two-part conclusion that I didn't love, I think overall the ending did the series justice. I think our characters made a journey, but they also arrived right back where they started. Except Alan and Sam are the ones concerned about their privileged information. It's a testament to how your past influences and guides your future. Of course a psychologist like Stephen White would capture that in a way that was not heavy handed, but communicated the message all the time. I didn't love the side plot line of Lauren and Raoul. I didn't think that it was necessary and it bordered on out of character for both of them. With as much as Alan has grown over the years having his wife cheat on him was a character arc his character didn't have to make, we'd already been down that road. So what purpose did that serve? I felt similarly with Diana, who had been portrayed all throughout the series as such a strong woman and Alan's best female friend relegated to that character who snapped and got sent away. Nonetheless despite some of its pitfalls, this book and it's partner before it showcased what I have always loved best about these books: Alan's thought process, the ever evolving, mature friendship between Alan and Sam, and the art and science of psychology. I haven't read a fiction author yet who can capture the difficult, conflicted, harrowing nature of being a therapist as poignantly as Stephen White can.