PRO CONNECT
Craig Bennett Hallenstein is a psychologist, writer, and father of five, whose blog, Let’s Talk Sex, is a guide to conscious living and sustainable relationships. The Dolphin is his first work of fiction.
Craig attended Beloit College and the California School of Professional Psychology, earning a PhD in clinical psychology and prompting a study of contemporary sexuality. Writing classes followed at Chicago Dramatists and the University of Iowa. His writing has appeared in publications as diverse as The Journal of Professional Psychology and The National Enquirer. Among his credits is a People Finders magazine cover story that was optioned by Dick Clark Productions for a made-for-TV movie.
When not writing, Craig manages a successful career as a business broker and restores old houses in Chicago and New Orleans. His favorite holiday is Mardi Gras. The Academy Awards claims a close second.
“Hallenstein certainly doesn’t pull any punches...”
– Kirkus Reviews
In this debut thriller, a man’s decadelong registration as a sex offender sparks police interest following a 7-year-old girl’s murder in New Orleans.
Sean Andrew Jordan was only 18 when a dubious encounter with a younger girl led to a conviction of criminal sexual abuse. He’s a registered sex offender but has a family—a wife, Laurie, and 4-year-old daughter, Ren—as well as employment as an adjunct professor. When Lt. Detective Owen Dupree finds the body of little Mattie Daniels, he checks on sex offenders in the area. Dupree, however, quickly zeroes in on Sean, whose alibi—at home with Laurie—doesn’t hold up. Sean had kept mum about being at a bar with pal Douglas Wile, who served time for indecent exposure but plans to lie low and ignore the court order to register as a sex offender. Sean doesn’t have that option, especially after a radio station, to boost ratings, starts outing sex offenders. He loses his job and incurs the wrath of the occasional citizen. Dupree, meanwhile, connects recent murders with explosions that are occurring around the same time. He may have his eye on Sean, but so does a serial killer, and when a young girl goes missing, it’s not long before Sean vanishes, too. Hallenstein certainly doesn’t pull any punches with his dark, often bleak tale. The murderer’s deeds, for one, are brutal even in their aftermath, while insight into the initially unknown killer exposes a violent mentality. But the protagonist isn’t any less gloomy. Sean, for example, is convinced he killed his parents, who died in an explosion when he was 11—details that the story doesn’t clarify until near the end. Notwithstanding, he’s wholly sympathetic, his long-ago crime paling in comparison to the current predators’. Likewise, the system’s labeling and corresponding treatment of Sean torture him so much he begins to question himself: is he sexually attracted to underage girls? While the murderer’s reveal is not surprising, the later scenes brim with suspense, including men taking shots at Sean in the French Quarter, crowded with partiers ready for the upcoming Mardi Gras.
Stark and harrowing, with a troubled protagonist’s inner turmoil magnified by a tangible evil.
Pub Date: April 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-692-57883-4
Page count: 330pp
Publisher: Storyville Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2016
Day job
Selling car dealerships
Favorite author
John Irving
Favorite book
I'd be crazy NOT to name my book after nine years of tending, nurturing, and gestation. THE DOLPHIN is now out, starting a life on its own. Can't wait to see how it grows and develops.
Hometown
I share my time between Woodstock, Illinois, and New Orleans, Louisiana, two towns that support idiosyncratic spirits
Passion in life
So many! Writing, parenting, advocating for human rights . . . One passion in particular is providing straight guys a path to reconnect with their brothers, reclaiming our birthright to joyful shared intimacy.
Unexpected skill or talent
Parenting. When I was young, I never thought much about having kids and parenting. When I woke one day and found I had five, I thought I probably ought to try to get good at it. I love being a parent and have written extensively about it in my blog.
The Dolphin: Honorable Mention 2016 Los Angeles Book Festival, 2016
Automotive News: "When the industry looked scary, this broker penned a thriller", 2016
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