The Flock: The Autobiography of a Multiple Personality

The Flock: The Autobiography of a Multiple Personality (1991) by Joan Frances Casey, with Lynn Wilson. This is a remarkable, moving and fascinating book. It tells the story of a multiple personality (Casey) and her longtime, dedicated therapist (Wilson). Many psychologists, even today, do not believe in multiple personality disorder as a valid diagnosis, and Casey faced many obstacles in trying to find someone who would treat her and not judge her. The book has a modestly happy ending, in that her many personalities were successfully integrated over a period of several years. Wilson and her husband, however, died in a boating accident before the book could be published, adding a melancholy note to the conclusion of the story. Grade: A

The Brethren

The Brethren (2000) by John Grisham. Three convicts in a minimum security federal prison, two former judges and one a former sheriff, come up with a scam to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars. It involves placing phony ads in a gay magazine, corresponding with the men who answer the ads, and then blackmailing them. It works pretty well -- until they ensnare a man who is running for president. This is a pretty amusing book, but is has an air of staleness about it. Notice the publication date -- before 9/11. All of the plotting and strategy around the presidential race has an anachronistic feel to it, because it is set in a pre-9/11 world. Grade: B-