Ellen is a professional hypnotist who helps her clients lose weight, quit annoying habits and ease pain. She is good at her job and a devoted daughter to her mother. However, she struggles in the one area that matters most to her- love. At 34, she is still single and has yet to form a lasting relationship. When she meets Patrick, a handsome widower with a son, she thinks her luck might be changing. But then he tells her he has a stalker. Ellen is shocked but also curious to know who Saskia is and what could have driven her to this obsessive behaviour.
So when Rosie comes to see Ellen, hoping to be hypnotised to love her fiancé she is a little taken aback when he reveals that she is actually his ex-girlfriend and she has been stalking him for months. Despite being a bit disturbed by the situation, she finds herself fascinated by this woman and decides she would love to meet her.
The hypnotist's love story is an interesting and complicated thriller that explores characters crossing legal and professional lines. The book is a mix of humour and suspense and both Ellen and Saskia are engaging and well written narrators. I think it is one of the best novels Moriarty has written so far. However, I found Patrick less convincing as a romantic lead than her other male protagonists (eg in Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers). This made it slightly harder to connect with his character.
