Since Psychology is my field of study, I really enjoy Keith Ablow's novels. Mr. Ablow has done a wonderful job in opening up the pathology of the criminal mind in his series of books. I relate to the way in which he focuses on the the way in which a person "thinks" that leads that person to create the criminal behavior. And not just the criminal - but Frank Clevenger himselfIn this novel Frank Clevenger is called in by the police to assist in the investigation of the shooting death of John Snow. John Snow was a brilliant scientist and inventor - but was troubled by severe seizures, seizures which were believed to be brought on by the overload of impulses to the brain when he was at his most creative. Mr. Snow was scheduled to have radical brain surgery with a somewhat narcissistic surgeon, Jet Heller. Dr. Heller was going to perform a controversial surgery to try to stop the seizures, but the surgery ran the risk of some unpleasant side-effects - one of which was that he would not know anyone that he had known before. The reason Clevenger’s expertise is required is to assess whether the prospect of the upcoming surgery and his possible future was too much for Snow to handle and so he decided to commit suicide instead. Detective Coady - the policeman in charge of the Snow case - wants Clevenger to show that it was a suicide - it would make his job a whole lot easier.There are many complications - a new invention by Snow seems to be missing (did he complete it or not?) - Dr. Snow had a partner who would make a lot of money from the new invention - there seems to have been a "girlfriend" in Dr. Snow's life - and the surgeon would have greatly to his achievements by performing the surgeryAnd of course, all of the issues in Clevenger's life - including his adopted son BillyYou'll just have to read the book to see what happens :)P.S. - I would recommend reading an earlier novel so that you get a "feel" for the main characters. "Psychopath" was the novel right before this one
I really enjoyed my first Keith Ablow book read years ago. Now that I'm going into psychiatry, the thought of reading a book with a psychiatric protagonist was very appealing. Ugh. Very disappointing. The book rang of a sort of false-note machismo that gave the impression that an author hunched over the keyboard was sketching out an impression of who he'd like to be. The plot was predictable and the characters wooden. The scenes were disjointed and inelegantly edited, as if you could almost see a sequence of pinned index cards moved around a cork-board until the author had a semblance of a novel.Won't be returning to the Ablow series. Actually, I can be a glutton for punishment and will give it another try in a few years when I forget how much I disliked this one. Time will tell...
I'm not a big fan of Ablow's character Frank Clevenger, but this book was a cut above some of the others that I have read. In this book Clevenger is not a raving alcoholic nor a compulsive gambler. Both of these addictions would make him a horrible psychiatrist, so that is an improvement. However, Ablow still makes him a macho hardass, which again, would make for a pretty bad fellow to be telling your secrets to. I don't know if I will be reading anymore of these. Recommended only to fans of Ablow.
—Jeff Dickison
This was fairly interesting. A forensic psychiatrist, Frank Clevenger delves into mysteries of whether persons are suicides or homicides. He himself is carrying certain baggage--pursuing an old love, and caring for a teenage foster son. One thing really irked me--the use of the term 'lovemap' in relation to two people who have feelings for one another. It seems blatantly unnecessary. The characters that Frank investigates are complex, and he struggles to put the pieces together. Would I read another novel by Keith Ablow? Maybe, but...
—Marti
This book strikes me as one step below mediocre. Cliche quota reached by page 5 whereupon a doctor manages to use all three of the following phrases, "Beat, goddamn you." "Don't quit on me, don't you quit on me." "You coward... You..." I was going to take one for the team, trudge through because the premise was intriguing and the medical explanations (an out-of-place scientific accuracy that was not smoothly integrated into dialog) were interesting. But the characters are parodies of themselves, and with that, I am bored.
—Laura
