This story is best described as a psychological thriller. I found it gripping.
Child psychologist Tom Seymour is out walking with his wife along a canal. Their marriage is fragile and they were seeking space by going outdoors. They witness a young man throw himself in the canal after swallowing tablets. Tom dives in and rescues him, only to realise that it is a young man, Danny, who as a 10 year old was charged with murder of an elderly woman and Tom's testimony that he was capable of standing trial in an adult court helped secure his incarceration. Was their meeting again random chance or something more sinister? ( )

Child psychiatrist Tom Seymour is forced to reexamine his role at the trial of child murderer Danny Miller when the adult Danny is released and arranges for Tom to rescue him from attempted suicide by drowning. Pyromaniac who tries to drown himself (water as rebirth); childless protagonist 'births' new Danny (Ian): "The mud smelt sharp and strong. He was concious of his skin chafing against his wet clothes, and he was filled with joy." The elusive nature of boundaries: for Tom, border crossings re love (separating from wife, realizes present feelings tint past memory), responsibility (between professional and personal); Danny's re sanity ('normal', mentally ill, evil).

Ambivalence of involvement - how much is enough? Our breaks with the past: "In spite of the connecting thread of memory, the person who'd done that was not sufficiently like his present self for him to feel guilt." Is charm manipulative or just personality? "Danny wasn't breaking the rules. They were. He was very, very good at getting people to step across that invisible border." Are we really to blame if people respond to us? Duality - "That smile...[it] was enough to make an atheist believe in damnation."

Danny tries to challenge each of 3 core factors posed at trial: could he 1) distinguish between fantasy and reality (playing soldiers)? 2) understand that killing was wrong (soldier father, in or outside the circle)? 3) understand death is permanent (fear of still seeing the dead woman)? When Tom was 10 yrs old, a normal boy, yet could have killed a 4 yr old, knowing what he was doing, and possibly comprehending the permanence of it, yet children lack perfect control of the 'off' switch, the ability to stop themselves in mid action. ( )

I loved Barker's Regeneration trilogy and her other historical novels. This one takes a quite different turn, and I can't say that it appealed to me at all. The main character, a psychiatrist, saves a young man from drowning in a suicide attempt, and to his surprise, he recognizes a former patient against whom he had testified in a murder trial. Danny Miller, then ten years old, was convicted of killing an old woman, in large part on the basis of Tom Seymour's testimony. But over the years, he began to question his own analysis. When Danny asks to see Tom professionally in order to come to terms with his past, the lives of both are affected.

Border Crossing is described in blurbs as a psychological thriller--which probably explains why it did nothing at all for me. ( )

In clear, concise and straightforward prose, Barker gives us another psychological novel, this time about a possible child killer. Was the ten year old convicted of killing an 80 yr. old woman, or was he in fact innocent. This is something psychiatrist Tom Seymour must ascertain, not once but twice. The suspense in this book was amazing and the subject matter so fascinating. What makes a psychopath or sociopath? I also like that the ending is not all spelled out and some of it is left to the reader's interpretation, though with plenty of clues. Actually downloaded this author's latest book, "Toby's Room" to my kindle. ( )

On a gray September afternoon, Tom and Lauren Seymour are walking along the riverbank arguing about the state of their failing marriage when a young man, after swallowing a bottle of pills, jumps into the river in front of them. Tom rescues the would-be suicide and later discovers that he has saved Danny Miller, a convicted murderer. A child psychologist, Tom had testified 13 years earlier at the then ten-year-old Danny's trial. Did his expert testimony, as Danny believes, sway the jury's verdict and send the boy to prison? Now released and living under an assumed name, Danny asks Tom to help him confront his childhood traumas, especially the murder of the old woman for which he is blamed. Still retaining a trace of guilt about the trial (perhaps Danny was as innocent as he claimed), Tom agrees and soon crosses the border between professional detachment and personal involvement. This is a subtle psychological tale with an edge of menace. Is Danny a victim or a manipulative psychopath? Barker also captures the grittiness and bleak beauty of England's north and its people. ( )