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Ellen is the main protagonist; she is the hypnotist of the title, or rather (as she insists) a qualified hypnotherapist. She lives in a beachside house which she inherited from her grandmother, and runs her business from a light-filled room that overlooks the sea.
In the first chapter we meet a few of her clients, and learn a little about her technique. She doesn’t promise miracles, and reminds people that they won’t do anything they regret. But she believes she can help one person to become less nervous about public speaking, another to relax about her upcoming wedding. She sees someone with unexplained leg pain and may be able to help her learn to deal better with the pain; someone else isn’t entirely sure what she wants.
And there’s also someone (which I assumed was one of the named clients) who gives short, first-person accounts of her visit to Ellen for an undefined purpose. We don’t learn who she is until some way into the book, but we do know that she has a connection with Ellen’s new love interest.
Patrick is a likeable man who was widowed eight years earlier, not long after the birth of his son. He was in another relationship for three years but broke it off, and was single for a while. Now he has met Ellen, and the two of them seem to have developed a spark of kinship as well as mutual attraction. He’s open about his past, and also lets Ellen know that his previous girlfriend is stalking him…
It’s an unusual storyline and I didn’t really know where it was going. I liked Ellen as well as Patrick, and felt that she was probably a very good hypnotherapist. At times she asks herself ethical questions: apparently the profession sparks several different viewpoints about whether or not it is ever acceptable to offer hypnosis, or even relaxation techniques to a family member or partner.
This book doesn’t have the twists and turns of ‘Big Little Lies’, although there are a few unexpected events. It’s character-based almost entirely; I found it fascinating seeing the viewpoints of the kinds of people I would not normally come across. I found some of the minor characters a bit two-dimensional, and couldn’t always remember the names of Patrick’s parents, or Ellen’s friends or her quirky godmothers. But it didn’t much matter. The story - of a developing relationship as well as of the problems of a former partner who won’t let go - is intriguing. The interactions feel believable, and the main characters realistic.
I particularly appreciated the lack of bad language, and that private bedroom activities take place firmly behind a closed door. The writing is good, building pace and characters in a way that made it very difficult to put down.All in all, I liked this book very much and would recommend it to anyone who likes thoughtful women’s fiction that’s a bit different from most.
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