“I want myself back…I’ve tried, but trouble attracts me, and vice versa. Honest truth? I like it that way”

Dangerous To Know is the second book in the Natalie King Forensic Psychiatrist series by Australian author, Anne Buist. As it follows on almost directly from Medea’s Curse with many characters in common and minimal recap, readers will do well to read that book first. Readers who enjoyed Medea’s Curse will be sure to find this one even better.

Natalie King, a Ducati-riding forensic psychiatrist who dares to be very much the non-conformist, has some mental health issues of her own: her bipolar disorder has seen her admitted to the psych ward. Her professional supervisor counsels toning down her life a little, so she heads out to a stilt house on the Great Ocean Road, intending to take up a research position at the Geelong University campus.

Professor Frank Moreton is to be her research supervisor, but she soon finds herself giving unofficial peer support to an understandably anxious man: Frank’s wife, Alison (with whom Natalie has, inconveniently, some adverse history) is almost eight months pregnant; Frank’s first wife died of unexplained causes the week before she was due to give birth.

On top of this, regular trips back to Melbourne are necessary to see her patients, in particular, a woman soon to be tried for the murder of her three young children. Natalie is dreading the required court appearance that will mean an encounter with prosecutor, Liam O’Shea, someone else with whom she has a stormy history. And on one return trip, her Ducati is almost run off the road by a mysterious silver Commodore.

This carefully crafted story is told through two narrative strands: Frank Moreton’s perspective is given in short chapters that alternate with chapters detailing events from Natalie’s point of view. But just how reliable is Frank’s narration? Are we being selectively shown the thoughts of a guilty man? And if so, guilty of exactly what? For that matter, how reliable is the narration from Natalie’s perspective? She worries that her own perception has been altered by the Electro-Convulsive Therapy she has recently undergone.

Once again, Buist gives the reader a page-turner with a highly original plot, plenty of twists and red herrings, a heart-stopping climax and a chilling conclusion. None of her characters is a stereotype, and she further develops the central ones in this instalment. The reappearance of Bob the cockatoo, with his frequent misquotes is an absolute delight. And the bombshell that is dropped in the last pages is sure to have readers wondering what is next for Natalie King.