I always enjoy the unraveling of the mystery in this series because the author has a diabolical mind and really buries the truth while laying a spectacular false trail. I do, however, find the inner workings of Dr. Frank Clevenger to be unrealistic and completely unbelievable. Without fail he has a sexual relationship with a seemingly innocent victim who usually winds up being the evil genius behind the mystery. He is a recovering alcoholic who always has meetings in bars and has one drink and walks away again and again. From my experience, once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic and one drink almost always deposits them back on the roller coaster of destruction. And, of course, in the nick of time, Dr. Clevenger pulls himself from the brink just in time to save himself from the perpetrator and cleverly solve the mystery. This template works well for Keith Ablow and if you suspend your beliefs and rationality for the duration, it is an engaging and extremely suspenseful read. My only problem with this book was the poor editing. Any decent editor should have caught that on day one, twin #1 was 5-months old and yet on day six, twin #2 was only 3-months old. I actually had to sit back and riffle through the pages to double check which was correct. And towards the end of the book, twin #2 was once again 5-months old.
Yet another impressive work from Keith Ablow.. Impressive compared to the other thrillers I've read recently,but when I compare it with the other works by the same author,this one seems to be almost a copy of the previous one I've read.. Keith Ablow has a wonderful ability to portray the darkest corners of human psyche,in ways that disturb most readers.. One can't find a better writer when it comes to technical details.. But because of the repetitive pattern,I could see the ending after reading the first quarter of the book.. I don't know why I was reminded of 'hostile witness' by Rebecca Foster,a favorite of mine. May be it was because of the fall guy,the kid who takes it all from the beginning.
What do You think about Compulsion (2003)?
I love Ablow as an author; I really enjoy the way he explains pathology and mental issues. He illustrates perfectly how mental illness/trauma directly results (sometimes) in murders, obsessions, and repeating the cycles. I liked that the story was written with sympathy towards the adopted son who was automatically labeled as a future serial killer. Regardless of Dr Clevenger's admitted addiction to women and sex, though, I was disappointed by how stupid he was regarding the wife. I can understand his poor judgment, but I wouldn't have expected him to let it happen with someone related to a case he was supposed to be working on. He's supposed to be at least somewhat smarter that than.
—Kya
