Book review: Psychopath - by Dr Keith Ablow

After a long time looking for a good read, I have found a fantastic thriller. Dr Keith Ablow's Psychopath . This book is the fourth in the Frank Clevenger series, which has 6 books as of date (8/02/07) (in that order): Denial, Projection, Compulsion , Psychopath , Murder Suicide and The Architect. I have read all six, and while Denial and Compulsion are great reads as well, I would suggest reading the first four in that order as there is continuity of character context across the series. I did not find the last two books - Murder Suicide and The Architect as gripping as the others, though. Frank Clevenger is, broadly speaking, a forensic psychiatrist, who is involved in analyzing suspected murderers. He also has his own internal struggles from his childhood, drug abuse, sexual issues and violent impulses at various points in the series. The books, while sometimes graphic in detail, do not seem gory for pure dramatic effect. Every description fits into the current context in the book. What attracted me to Clevenger right at the beginning of the series (in Denial) is that he resembled my favorite TV character, Dr House, an eccentric vicodin addicted diagnostician modeled in many ways after Sherlock Holmes. What attracted me most to Frank Clevenger is that he was a normal human being, with the same contradictions, flaws, confused morality, animal instincts as all of us have, and strive so hard to hide, to make life seem peaceful.

Psychopath , unlike some of the other mysteries in the series, is a thriller where the serial killer at question is known right from the beginning. The beauty of the book lies in how several minds and their psychoanalysis intertwine by analogy, intersection and even influence each other. Even one of the several complex plot twists in this book could have been enough to carry most other books through. It is obvious that it would take someone with Dr Ablow's own experience as a forensic psychiatrist to carry this story through. To add to the spice, the killer is also a completely normal, and in many ways a noble being, battling his own inner demons. The essence of the book lies in the public psychoanalytic exchanges between Clevengerand the killer. I resist the urge to reveal more since that would be giving away too much. Read Psychopath today - you will love it. As Dennis Lehane said: "Ablow is king of the psychological thriller...The pages will singe your hands."