Partings — Rebecca A. Engel

Valerie Urniak Cardonza thinks she is losing her mind. How else can she explain why she sees the same man wherever she goes, yet when she tries to point him out to anyone, he's gone?

Worse, while it's been six years since she lived alternate lives while in a coma, there now appears to be evidence one of her coma lives was real. Or is that another aspect of the problem that she's having?

Valerie's best friend is going through problems of her own. She's experienced some recovered memories, and wants Valerie's help in determining if the events she recalls were real or figments of her imagination. Valerie is willing to do whatever she can to help ease her friend's mind at the same time she is dealing with the possible deterioration of her own.

If Valerie's mental health is intact, the other possibilities for what she's experiencing might be worse than dementia.


PARTINGS is the ninth and final book in the Valerie Urniak Mystery series. This series is set in Chicago, starts in 1974 and ends in 2010. The complete series consists of:


PERMANENT DAMAGE, Book 1
CONTRIVE TO KILL, Book 2
VARIANTS OF DÉJÀ VU, Book 3
A RING OF TRUTH, Book 4
TOO SOON, Book 5
DANGEROUS UNDERCURRENTS, Book 6
ZUGZWANG, Book 7
ALTERNATE LIVES, Book 8
PARTINGS, Book 9