FICTION

DENIAL by Bonnie Comfort. (Simon & Schuster: $22; 302 pp.) When psychotherapist Sarah Rinsley takes on Nick Arnholt as a patient she has no idea that this man will simultaneously ruin and save her life. Nick is handsome, charming and utterly amoral. His increasing attachment and sexual attraction to Sarah brings up conflicting feelings in her that deepen as Nick begins to behave more and more inappropriately. Disaster is inevitable, but exactly who is at fault and what form the crisis will take is the subject of “Denial,” psychologist Bonnie Comfort’s uneven, but ultimately gratifying first novel.

“Denial” begins with a flashy prologue, inserted there one might suspect, to get readers through Comfort’s entertaining yet slightly laborious first half. The prologue doesn’t help. One of the conventions of commercial fiction is the need for a strong plot or character driven story, and even though Comfort’s writing is effective stylistically, “Denial” sort of meanders along good-naturedly for well over 100 pages until something really happens. Actually, two things.

The first is Sarah Rinsley begins to slowly come apart--her defenses no longer working, her fears sharking straight through a previously well-ordered life. The second thing that happens is Bonnie Comfort begins to write with enormous velocity.

Ultimately, this is a story about courage, grace and the redemptive power of love. Although it takes a little while for “Denial” to find its trajectory, Comfort has written an accomplished and moving first novel.