Bleeding Hearts

bleeding heart - a person who is considered excessively sympathetic toward those who claim to be underprivileged or exploited - AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY Almost everyone on Cavanaugh Street seems to be getting into the spirit of Valentine's Day. Bennis' brother Christopher drops in for a visit, and begins a relationship with Lida, and even Hannah Krekorian has a new boyfriend...a once-popular figure in the 'recovery' movement whose wife died under mysterious circumstances. Should be read after NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING, which introduces Christopher and his gambling problem. By this point in the series, Chris has been to "Camp Boredom" (which was run by Hannah's boyfriend) and has his life straightened out. Haddam takes on the 'recovery' movement in this volume. As Chris and Bennis put it in NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING: C: I don't think I'm crazy because I've got Daddy's genes, and I don't think I'm crazy because Daddy warped my mind, either. I think I'm crazy because I'm a jerk. B: I don't think that kind of attitude is going to get us anywhere. C: I think it's going to get us a hell of a lot farther than the attitude I've been taking, which is that I just can't help myself, no explanations necessary.