Without Trace

Billed as a medical thriller, this generally well-written debut set in England is undone by an almost hysterical plot. Things begin prosaically enough, when Dr. Tim Sherringham is called away in the middle of the night to deliver a baby. When he subsequently goes missing, his wife, Daisy, also a doctor, calls in the police. They find two headless and handless bodies along Sherringham's route to the hospital and hear reports of a man in a pierrot costume in the vicinity at the time when the murders must have occurred. Neither of the bodies turns out to be Tim's. Suspense builds as Daisy waits for her husband's body to be found and the detectives, the gentle Trevor Joseph and the misanthropic Peter Collins, puzzle out the significance of the clown and several other missing-persons cases. John creates a sinister atmosphere, especially in scenes taking place at a crumbling seaside pier, and she clearly knows her way around a hospital. But those assets don't entirely make up for some overly lurid descriptions, a conclusion that tardily details the past and the implausibilities of the far-fetched plot. (Aug.)