The Madman's Tale: A Novel

Description

It’s been twenty years since Western State Hospital was closed down and the last of its inmates reintegrated into society. Francis Petrel was barely out of his teens when his family committed him to the asylum, after his erratic behavior culminated in a terrifying outburst. Now middle-aged, he leads an aimless, solitary life housed in a cheap apartment, periodically tended to by his sisters, and perpetually medicated to quiet the chorus of voices in his head. But a reunion on the grounds of the shuttered institution stirs something deep in Francis’s troubled mind: dark memories he thought he had laid to rest, about the grisly events that led to Western State Hospital’s demise.

It begins in 1979, when twenty-one-year-old Petrel descends into the state-run purgatory of an overcrowded, understaffed Massachusetts mental hospital. Surrounded by inmates roaming the halls like drugged zombies and raving behind locked doors, well-meaning orderlies, jaded nurses, and patronizing doctors, Francis finds friendship with a motley assortment of fellow patients: a would-be Napoleon, a wise ex-firefighter, and a man obsessed with battling imagined devils. But there’s nothing imaginary about the young nurse found sexually assaulted and brutally murdered late one night after lights-out.

The police suspect an inmate, while patients whisper about visions of a white-shrouded “angel.” But the striking and mysterious prosecuting attorney who arrives to investigate has her own chilling theory—about the grim, telltale “signature” left on the victim’s body, a string of unsolved sex killings, and a very real devil who, by chance or design, has come to turn a madhouse into a slaughterhouse.

Now, with the past creeping back to haunt his thoughts, and nothing but a pencil and the bare walls of his bleak apartment, Francis surrenders to the overwhelming need to tell the story of those nightmarish days. But because the crime was never solved, it’s a story doomed to remain unfinished. Until, like Francis’s long-buried recollections, the killer resurfaces . . . with a vengeance.

A tour de force narrative journey through the eerily unpredictable mind of an utterly unusual hero, The Madman’s Tale will keep even the most astute thriller reader uncertain, unnerved, and unable to resist the tantalizing twists and turns of this fiendishly suspenseful shadow show.


From the Hardcover edition.

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Customer Reviews

A Glad I Read This Man's Tale
So I work in a cubicle for a company and have to do a lot of answering phones. Some days it's a little slow. I'm reading the part in this book where Lucy hears her name in a goosebump raising fashion, looks over the quad at the windows of the adjacent building and sees the moon faces of all the inmates at the funny farm. It was here that the phone let a loud beep in my ear that made me start off the call going "Fffffftthhank you for calling...". I'm not sure I remember being startled by a BOOK!

I read this one right before I read The Wrong Man, and they both did something exceptionally well. They created suspense from both sides of the same coin. In this one, you never see the killer. Even when you do, you really don't. It's what you hear and the presence he creates that causes literal chills. The Wrong Man on the other hand, starts the same tension at the moment we meet the guy. And having read this one first, the tension for the second was turned up that much higher. The villian from the Wrong Man is as much a central character as anyone else. This one works in some ways better, because of the main characters overwhelming instability and his relationship with the fireman. Though Wrong Man has a much better ending in my opinion. It's essentially a tie.

Also, in terms of loony bin thrillers, it is a distant cry from Shutter Island. But if you like em scary, give this one time to grow on you, you'll realize you're in a nightmare.

2009-12-28 | Stupid Flanders, you're a genius! (Seattle) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Decent story but don't read if looking for insight or originality
Madman's tale is narrated by an inmate at a large mental institution where a serial murderer has taken refuge.

THE GOOD

the main characters are likeable, and alot of effort is made to build the setting of the institution. The 'angel' is a frightening and well designed presence in the novel hyping up the tension and suspence.

THE BAD

The author uses the simile 'as if' to much (it was as if the author used the simile as if too much. Hmm yes it turns out the intial T in my name actually should be L for lame)

The story rambles for too long, repeating scenes and giving the stereotypical minor characters throughout the hospital too much page-time.

The flash back and forwards between main story and the narrators present is a little frustrating and doesn't seem to add much to story SPOILER ALERT, at first I thought that maybe the killer had escaped and confrontation would only occur in the presence, but no it was just the narrators vivid hallucinatory memeories.

THE UGLY (MORE SPOILERS AHEAD)

Finally one of my major pet peeves is complex thrillers that end with a sad: we defeated the bad-guy cos we fought and we managed to win. Really I expect more from a novel that is quite long in building the bad-guy, rather than just getting the upper hand in a fight. Also I hate it in who-dunnit novels when the killer is just some guy, this is particularly bad in Madman's tale because they are discussing how he could have access to the hospital and whether hes a patient or a professional in the hospital, turns out he isn't a character that had been introduced before.

Overall worth a read, but don't expect to be blown away

2009-12-19 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Incredibly BAD
Yipes - how on earth did anyone read this tripe??? I couldn't get beyond page 10!!! One paragraph was a page long! It's all inner dialogue and horribly boring. Would someone in a beginning Creative Writing Class please tell Katzenbach what an inciting incident is???? How on EARTH did this get published??????

2009-10-18 | mystery author (United States) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 1

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Was I the only one fooled?
I thought for sure half way through the book I had figured out who the "Angel" was.If so it would have been an interesting twist and kept me reading all the way through to the end to see how the author would wrap it all up. I don't want to give it away but the ending was very anticlimatic with the realization of who the "angel" was. I had put up with all the unbelievable aspects of this "tale" just to get to a satisfying end and was let down. I did enjoy the characters of the various patients in the asylum but overall the book seemed too LONG.

2009-01-28 (at sea) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Unconventional whodunit
This story cames out of the revelations of the sparky crazy mind of Francis Petrel (C-Bird) who recounts his stay in a mental hospital many years ago, disclosing the unresolved crime of a nurse assistant.
The story line works in different time dimensions a first person account and a third person recount adopting the scheme of a whodunit, where also the perpetrator of a distant past jumps into the recount and commit more crimes hidden in a bunch of crazy men, it also adds a prosecutor, Lucy Jones, who with a very personal interest linked to that same distant past arrives to the mental institution fiercely committed to solve this crime but not in the conventional manner of any police procedural thriller as all potential suspects are crazy men. One longs to get to the ending to find out who was the criminal, but will the tale work that way?, is a true tale or a delusion ? Don't forget that we are listening to a tale of a crazy mind. The plot is ingenious and provoking, helds the reader interest from beginning to end, displays an excellent writing style, so good and colorful that one takes the time devour every word and expression, on the other hand the author makes it way too long and fails to add the expected twist, in my opinion, the ending deserved after so much suspense and tension, but the resolution in no way tarnishes neither the whole story line nor the brilliant narrative that precedes.

2007-12-29 (Buenos Aires, Argentina) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

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The Analyst

Product Details

• Quarters: New
• ISBN13: 9780345426277
• Notes: BUY WITH Faith, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and servicing to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Description

Happy fifty third birthday, Doctor. Welcome to the first day of your death. Dr. Frederick Starks, a New York psychoanalyst, has just received a mysterious, threatening letter. Now he finds himself in the middle of a horrific game designed by a man who calls himself Rumplestiltskin. The rules: in two weeks, Starks must guess his tormentor’s identity. If Starks succeeds, he goes free. If he fails, Rumplestiltskin will destroy, one by one, fifty-two of Dr. Starks’ loved ones—unless the good doctor agrees to kill himself. In a blistering race against time, Starks’ is at the mercy of a psychopath’s devious game of vengeance. He must find a way to stop the madman—before he himself is driven mad. . . .

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Penzler Pick, February 2002: This thriller from the author of Hart's War is addictive. Analyst Dr. Frederick Starks has just turned 53 and, on his birthday, receives a letter informing him that he has ruined the letter-writer's life and now his own life is about to be ruined.

Starks must solve a riddle, he is told. He must find out whose life he ruined within two weeks. If he does not, he must kill himself. If he does not kill himself, then those nearest and dearest to him will be killed. The letter is signed, Rumpelstiltskin. At first Starks is dismissive--but he does call relatives to see that they are all right. Not all of them are. In fact Starks is convinced that the letter writer is deadly serious when he discovers how the birthday of his 14-year-old great-niece was ruined. He must now engage in the game or be responsible for the lives of others.

While he works frantically to try and unlock the past and find whose life he could possibly have ruined, Rumpelstiltskin is also busy. Within hours of receiving that first shattering letter, one of Dr. Starks's patients throws himself under a subway train, though Starks knows the patient was not suicidal.

When the police tell him that a couple and a homeless woman saw the man jump, Starks tries to find them. He finds only the homeless woman, who tells him that she was given money by the couple to tell what she witnessed. Starks is certain that Rumpelstiltskin must be one of the couple, but he's wrong. It's even more sinister than that, and when he meets the accomplices, he realizes that his adversary has been planning his revenge for years.

Soon, Starks's life is spiraling downward. There is nothing hidden from Rumpelstiltskin. His credit cards, his bank accounts, his patients, his homes in Manhattan and in Massachusetts, his reputation--nothing and no one is safe as Starks races against time as his world shrinks and his options run out. The clock is ticking as he hunts a ruthless psychopath who always seems to be one step ahead of him. As Starks tries to figure out what to do besides react to his life spinning out of control, he uses his training, his dwindling resources, and every weapon available to him to combat this relentless and deadly foe. --Otto Penzler

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Customer Reviews

Suspense, Tension and Revenge
Dr. Frederick Starks fifty-third birthday finds him going through the motions of a normal workday, listening to the monotonous drone of his patients, while planning his vacation in Cape Cod. His plans go awry after his last patient of the day leaves and he finds a letter from someone calling himself Rumplestiltskin. Mr. R. says that Starks has ruined his life and unless Starks can guess who he is, or unless he commits suicide in fifteen days time, he will kill one of his relatives. As proof of his intentions, Mr. R. adds in his note that a message has been sent to one of the relatives and Starks should discover who it is.

The message had been sent to Starks' fourteen year-old grand niece and it convinces him the threat is real. Then one of his patients commits suicide, but Stark sees a murder and he sees the hand of Mr. R. Then two men, apparently employed by Mr. R., pay Starks a visit. Then a gorgeous gal, who calls herself Virgil, shows up and tells Starks that she is his guide to Hell. Then a lawyer, who calls himself Merlin, tells Starks he'll be destroyed. Most of Starks' assets are striped away, his reputation is shot. As the time for his supposed suicide draws near, he wonders if there is a way out.

I have to say that despite the bodies that pile up in this story, that I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Mr. Katzenbach takes a man, who you'd find hard to like if you met him in person, and gradually draws you into his life, building tension and suspense as you read through the pages. My guess is that this book will make a heck of a move.

2010-04-09 (a Cool Dry Place) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5

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Interesting phycological novel
I am more a history novel reader than a suspense reader. This is the first Katzentbach's book I read and must admit I enjoy it. This is a psychological story that shows how each of us can adapt or die given the circumstances, in the case of Frederick Starks' he faced many actions that forced his change and he actually reborn after killing himself.

The book will keep you interested all the way till the end, the characters are quite interesting and each one with a peculiar and extremist personality. I probably like Virgil the best, with her coldness and yet sexy way to guide to hell as she says to Starks.

I was particularly pleased with the continuous change of events and satisfied by Frederick Stark's adaptation along the story. Few times I was able to guess Starks next action and that I think is hard to keep in a book.

I will be reading this author more often and think you will enjoy this book as I did.

2010-01-04 | Pollux (USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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The Analyst - Excellent
This is an excellent mystery story. The mystery is solved in the first 2/3 of the book but then it goes on to what to do about the mystery. The writing is clear, the characters not so many that you loose track.

I bought this book in paperback a few years ago (like 10 or 15) and loved it at the time. When people ask me about my favorite books I always respond with this one and a couple others. So just recently I decided to buy it in hardcover and reread it. Haven't reread it yet but I am looking forward to it.

2009-03-30 | Wannabe Author (Valrico, FL USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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A bit over-Analyzed, but still good
I read The Analyst hoping for something different and maybe refreshing in a suspense book. I found both, but felt it fell a bit short. The book introduces you to a widowed shrink in New York who receives a letter from someone whose life was apparently ruined by the doctor years ago. The doctor must figure out who the letter writer is or he'll be killed. I know this sounds ludicrous, and it is, but it's just within the fringes of plausibility. Or at least, you want to believe it is.

It's a good story, and the weak main character actually shows some growth toward the end of the book. However, there is a lot of "psycho-babble" that gets a little old. For a book that analyzes everything, the ending felt rushed with little insight.

2009-01-11 (Springfield, IL) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 4

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What a Thriller should be!!!!!
I have not written a review in a while, but when I came across this book it was the moment to share something worthwhile with all of you....
John writes this book in a way that brings your full attention from beginning to end. It is a sizable book (700 pages or so) but a great classic. I do not tend to read more than one book from a writer unless I find him impressive....well John you are now part of the club...highly recommended...

2008-08-08 | Eltico (Brussels, Belgium) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Traveler

Description

A man, a woman, a car, and a camera on a sentimental journey through the past. He kills, he photographs, she writes about it -- or she dies, too. Detective Mercedes Barren has a reason to give chase: her niece was a victim. So does psychiatrist Martin Jeffers, a specialist in sex offenders and a more than passing acquaintance of the killer.

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As a jaded detective at the Miami Police Department, Mercedes Barren isn't phased by much. That is, until a late-night phone call awakens her from one nightmare and catapults her into another: her niece has been murdered. Within days, Detective Barren has a surly Islamic fundamentalist in custody cutting a plea bargain--for a series of murders. As much as she would like to believe he murdered her niece, instinct tells her otherwise. Enter Douglas Jeffers, a disgruntled photojournalist who's seen one too many killers, courtrooms, and shredded cadavers. His mission? To commit a series of "copy cat" murders with a twist: he's forcing a young English major to document his journey. Barren catches on, Jeffers's brother (a psychiatrist who specializes in sexual offenders, of course) gets involved, and the motley cast races to a hypertension-inducing finish. Not recommended for those with delicate sensibilities, The Traveler casually throws out descriptions of mutilated organs and vicious assaults with the bored ease of a maître d'. Although it has a tendency to veer into melodrama, the caffeinated cadence and memorable one-liners make for a respectable beach read: "Killers were the Kleenex of the drug industry; they were used a few times and then discarded unceremoniously." --Rebekah Warren

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Customer Reviews

Gruesome but Interesting Page-Turner
I enjoyed this well-written page-turner. It is about a psychopathic photographer who also happens to be a serial killer. He kidnaps a college student so that the student can keep a journalistic account of his serial killings. The murderer's brother is a psychiatrist, and one of the victim's relatives is a detective who stalks the murderer.

It all makes for somewhat gruesome, but interesting reading.

2009-06-03 | Fairbanks Reader (Fairbanks, Alaska) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Psychopathic Killer Kidnaps Coed to Chronicle his Murders
In an early work, John Katzenbach weaves a tale of sadistic murder and mind control.

Mercedes Barren, a Miami cop who transferred to the forensic division after her traumatic shooting, is called in the middle of the night and told her only niece has been brutally murdered. Thought to be the work of the serial "Campus Killer" Mercedes works with her fellow officers to track down the killer. When a suspect is found, who rambles that Allah told him to kill the evil women, she finds evidence that someone else killed her niece. As her life begins to fall apart, Mercedes takes a medical leave to look for "the real killer"

Midway through the novel, the author reveals ... the killer .... Through the narrative, we finds what drives him to kill. Not satisfied that he has escaped detection, the murderer's ego needs to have someone to document his murders and thinking. He kidnaps a Florida co-ed who he nicknames Boswell and brutualizes and tortures her until she is brainwashed and frightened to displease him or try to escape.

Barren picks up Jeffries' trail, finding his psychiatrist brother along the way and enlisting him in the chase.

The unique aspect of this novel was the mind control the killer had over his kidnapped victim, so much so she could not ask a state trooper for help when she saw him. He lectures her on his experiences and takes her on a "sentimental journey" of childhood sites and murders that meant a lot to him....

My advice to you if you have not read any of Katzenbach's work, is to try a more recent work, such as the Analyst. While the Traveler is a suspenseful story, it lacks the fast pace, character development and satisfying ending of his later works.

2002-08-05 | mary1anne2 | Helpful Votes: 6 | Rating: 3

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Very Entertaining, Great Concept!
I've read a lot of books in this genre. The concept was original and gave me a good week of reading. Not for the reader with a weak stomach.

2002-05-19 | mockingbird73 (Lee's Summit, MO) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 4

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The Traveler Isn't Worth The Trip!
Although Katzenbach has become one of my favorite authors, you can tell that The Traveler is only his second book.While the story is interesting, his dialogue is weak and he doesn't move the story along at a fast enough pace. He's come a long way since The Traveler. If you like really good thrillers, try these books by Katzenbach--Hart's War (his latest), The Shadow Man and Just Cause.

1999-11-28 (New Jersey, USA) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 2

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Just Cause

Description

"Powerful...Compelling...Katzenbach is a skilled storyteller who knows how to set up the kind of big and small questions that make one want to keep turning the pages"
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Now a Warner Bros. Motion Picture starring Sean Connery.
At first report Matt Cowart doesn't believe the claims of innocence from Robert Earl Ferguson, Death Row inmate. But the more Coward digs into his case, the more he believes that, as a black man, Ferguson is a victim of hate and prejudice, and that the wrong man is going to be executed. Cowart lets fly a series of hard-hitting investigative articles that ultimately frees Ferguson and gets Cowart a Pulitzer Prize. He's a hero, a celebrity, a big-hearted guy--who has unwittingly set in motion a scenario of horror and death....

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Customer Reviews

page turning all nighter
with this book when you start reading cannot put it down. pure supense in every page as to who now i think i know he is guilty to WOW i do not know for sure. great plot, absolutely riveting. it must be as i have read it 4 times over the years and just read it again/ dh

2009-02-05 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Mind Games and Deceptions
Miami reporter Matt Cowart receives a letter from Robert Earl Ferguson, a prisoner sitting on Death Row. He says he is innocent of the crime he was convicted for and, after talking to him and doing a little bit of investigating, Matt agrees that Ferguson may have been unfairly treated. He decides to write a story about Ferguson, and it�s a good story. Heck, it�s so good that he wins a couple of awards. Not only that, but it�s convincing enough to get the case reopened.

But�what if he got it wrong! What if he was lied to and was manipulated by a killer into helping him be released from prison.

Suddenly, there is doubt in every piece of evidence and every word of a confession so that Matt finds it difficult to reconcile the possible harm he has done. Added to Matt�s woes is another Death Row inmate, a Hannibal Lector type, who has taken it upon himself to play all sorts of mind games with him. In order to ease his mind and try to minimise any damage done by possibly setting a killer free, he teams up with the detective he virtually accused of being dirty and starts investigating the man he helped acquit.

John Katzenbach is a master at putting his characters through psychological turmoil. They�re left to wrestle with their consciences as they dwell heavily on the consequences of their actions. It�s this inner conflict that dictates the flow of the story and is a remarkably effective tool to build up the feeling of tension. It all adds up to a stunning thriller filled with doubts and blind alleys.

2002-06-05 (Sydney, NSW Australia) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 4

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Very Good, Could be Shorter.
This is a creative thriller with good twists and turns in plot. The author is obviously good at characterization, but seems shy about pursuing it, instead worrying too much about storyline. The book would go from 3 to 5 stars if only the best plot elements were retained, and character development were emphasized. And, as always in this genre of mystery/thriller, the ending is wild, unbelievable, confusing, and never really ties up loose ends. Nevertheless, a good read, if only for one to ponder its potential.

1999-06-28 (East Windsor, NJ) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Excellent novel, superb theme, talented prose
I was stunned to read the bad reader review of this book -- could it be that the central theme is a bit too difficult for people to comprehend? Theme...yes, IMO this book has a deeply disturbing theme, which has not been recognized by the majority. The disturbing aspect is that a journalist CAN be manipulated; awards are given out based on mistakes; sociopathic serial killers are capable of nothing but murder and deception. The talented Katzenbach writes prose that flies, soars with poetic brilliance; I'd read his work, even if the storyline didn't interest me. I love beautiful prose, even if it's describing gutter-life. Kudos for ALL his books!

1998-02-20 | Helpful Votes: 6 | Rating: 5

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A Wonderful book ruined by a LOUSY MOVIE!
This is almost a perfect book and the only one written by J.K. without a flaw or any illogical defect. But unfortunately, it was made into a horrible bad,bad movie and it made me sick to death of those Hollywood jerks!This is a very touching and very deep story. If you happen to try to find a very good book for your summer and your mind didn't twisted by that terrible movie yet, choose this one from Amazon! You won't regret. But don't read J.K.'s other books if you found that you are intrigued by this one. As a matter of fact, all of the others were so badly written with so many holes,leaks and so many illogic ways of constructing the plots. J.K. is such a talented writer as Carl Hisassen(who became trivial laterly) and Michael Connelly(who becomes better and even great gradually), but his creatitvity of Muse is quite unbalanced. I sincerely hope that he could find some good editors who might candidly and professionally point out those unreasonable and illogic flaws of his books before publishing it

1997-06-11 | Helpful Votes: 7 | Rating: 5

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In the Heat of the Summer

Description

The first novel by Carl Hiaasen's ace Miami Herald crime-reporter colleague John Katzenbach stars a reporter who stumbles onto the story of his life in Miami's mean season, July. (It was adapted as the Kurt Russell/Mariel Hemingway film The Mean Season.) Katzenbach's tale blazes with local color, and his depiction of the newspaper life is accurate, entertaining, and animated by an interesting dilemma: What does a newshound do when he becomes part of the story he's covering?

That's what happens to Malcolm Anderson of The Miami Journal. One day in 1975, fate hands him Page One material: a beautiful teenager found with the back of her head removed by a .45 bullet. Katzenbach takes us through the reporter's paces: eliciting quotes from the victim's family and friends (the girls at school wonder who'll replace the deceased on the cheerleading squad); getting great "art" for the photographer; negotiating the story's space, timing, and emphases with the city editor.

But this is no ordinary killing. The only thing worse than a dead teen is a dead teen with a note in her pocket reading, "Number One." Worse yet, Malcolm gets a call at his desk from the "Numbers Killer," who taunts him with an elliptical account of his tormented childhood and violent Vietnam experiences. As Malcolm desperately tries to deduce the killer's motives and prevent the next murder, he wrestles with the terrible question of his own complicity. The bad guy here is just OK, but the reporter is a very good character, and the novel well merits its Edgar Award nomination. --Tim Appelo

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Customer Reviews

Luke Warm Thriller Never Thrilled Me
In the Heat of the Summer is an okay thriller. The plot is interesting and I liked the fact that the protagonist, Malcolm Anderson, was a journalist rather than a police officer or a psychologist as it gave a different perspective. However the book failed to absorb me and it was never truly compelling.

A large problem I had with the book was the character Christine, who was Malcolm's girlfriend. Her character was lifeless, sanctimonious, and not in the least likeable. As basically the only female character in the book given more than a few lines of dialogue I wanted to identify with her, or at least believe in her as a character. Instead it seemed her principle roles were to further depress Malcolm and give him a hard time for no reason and to indulge in the most mechanical and unsexy love scenes with him. Also some of the things she did just did not ring true, for example, one of the weirdest examples was when she danced naked in their living room to `relieve the tension' of knowing that the killer was at large somewhere in the city. Madness!

Other problems included the clunky dialogue which just did not ring true, continual flashbacks to Malcolm's childhood during pertinent moments of the story, the overuse of maniacal laughter by the villain and the fact that the plot dragged at the end. I also thought that some of the description just went on for too long, especially when the killer was describing the deaths on the telephone to Malcolm. The ending was all right but I had skimmed the last couple of chapters and did not really care that much about the outcome.

Overall I could not recommend this book to others because I think there are hundreds of better thrillers written today (this one was first published in 1982). I would recommend however The Analyst, a fantastic book I gave a 5 star review to, written by John Katzenbach last year.

2004-05-24 (England) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 2

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Great read. Go find it in the nearest used book store
Any reader who enjoys reading serial killer novels must read this book. The interaction between the killer and the reporter contains some of the best dialogue I have ever read in a book of this type. Their conversations are definitely up there with some of the interactions in Thomas Harris' Hanibal trilogy. The protagonsit, a reporter, has to deal with the dilemma between his job as a reporter and his role as a citizen. This conflict adds wonderful insight into his character and his relationships with the secondary cast. The book is a fairly quick read, but is well written and definitely gives the reader something that one is not acccustomed to in these types of books. This is the kind of book that you should be searching the used books stores for. It is the first Katzenbach book and it absolutely will not be my last.

2002-03-04 (New York) | Helpful Votes: 7 | Rating: 5

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This book made J. Katzenback one of my favorite authors.
This book was the first book I had read from Mr. Katzenback, and is still probably my favorite. I passed the book along to my parents, friends, etc. and they all loved it. I love the fact that Mr. Katzenbach has a newspaper reporter background, because his book reflect his talent in writing. I have read all of his works, and because I am a true mystery thriller buff, I prefer those to the last recent Harts war, because I am not a fan of military novels as much, but my husband and all of his male co workers thought the book magnificent, and I have yet to get my hands on it. Mr. Katenbach, if you are listening, do you have any new books coming out soon. I am hoping for something along the lines of Mean Season 2, or something like that, not because your writing isn't just as wonderful in every book, but I read 3 to 4 books a week, and I have become somewhat finicky on what I like to read! Trying to expand my horizons..but those mysteries and your villians are some of the best villians I have read about. If you do read this and could let me know where your heart is leading you to in your next book and when you might be writing another, I would be thrilled to know. What a gift you have, it is rare that my husband and I read the same material, but we both love good writers, and you are one of the few that we both love. On a personal note, at 40 I am now at home on permant disability because of illness so books are my lifeline, and when I see a new J. Katzenbach, it is such a thrill, like I won a little lottery, and the thicker the book the better. So for this one fan I hope a mystery, serial killer (isn't that terrible no accounting for taste) book is coming soon. For such a pacifist, my friends tease me about my taste in books. Oh well. Thanks for enhancing my life Jill Guenther 27892 Wakefield Rd Santa Clarita, CA 91384 661-257-2985 artnjill@earthlink.net

1999-09-16 | Helpful Votes: 7 | Rating: 5

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Day of Reckoning

Description

Megan and Duncan Richards have come a long way from 1968 and their radical past. He's a banker; she's in real estate. They have two teenage daughters and a young son. But the past has not forgotten them. From her prison cell, the beautiful and cold-blooded terrorist Tanya, with whom the Richards were involved in 1968, plots her revenge on the couple she blames for her capture. Soon she will be released from jail. Then she will start to pay them back -- beginning with their son . . .

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Megan and Duncan Richards have it all: beautiful kids, a lovely home, respectable jobs in banking and real estate, stock portfolios, and a .45 pistol dating back to 1968. They don't talk about the .45, because back then they were members of the Students for a Democratic Society splinter group the Phoenix Brigade. Their charismatic, manipulative leader, Olivia, bullied and shamed them into driving the getaway cars in a bank robbery to raise cash for the revolution. Olivia--then known as Tanya--made the bank job sound completely foolproof, inevitable, like the withering away of the state in a Marxist fantasy.

But cops and robbers died in the bungled heist (grippingly described by Katzenbach, a former SDS kid and distinguished crime reporter turned novelist), and Megan and Duncan fled the scene. Olivia emerges from 18 years in jail and hooks up with a Phoenix Brigade pal who's been an underground refugee. Age has failed to mellow her: they kidnap the Richards' son and Duncan's dad--a judge-and Olivia has had time to dream up a much meaner, cleverer plan to raise cash and wreak vengeance. She never squealed on the couple, enabling her to blackmail them--they're still accomplices to murder, so they can't call the cops on her. Will Duncan pull off a truly sophisticated bank job to save his kids? Can Olivia keep her unstable gang in line? Can realtor Megan find Olivia's hideout? As events rampage along, Katzenbach puts us inside each character's head, drawing closed the net of terror. This is a stay-up-all-night thriller. --Tim Appelo

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Customer Reviews

Forget the other reviwer!
In short, this novel is as well written and conceived and constructed as any other commericial suspense novel of note. Sure, you can pick this book apart if you over analyze it; but again, the same holds true of most other novels. Hell, I can even find flaws in The Silence of the Lambs. The other reviewer should lighten up. John Katzenbach is a wonderful novelist. I hightly reccomend this one, as well as Just Cause, In the Heat of the Summer, and State of Mind. I have not yet read The Traveller, but it's next on my list. And then The Analyst and the Madman's Tale.

2005-03-17 | amidnightdreary@earthlink.net (Delaware, OH USA) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 5

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A story leaking like sinking boat
Well, J.K. did it again. This one is quite beyond my recongnition! I've never read a book with so many leaking flaws. I just couldn't believe 1) how the writer made up a story with so poorly make-believed scenario? 2) How the author's editors would not find it impulsively to point out those unbelievable plots and scenes in this book? Were they blind,or just too lazy or scared to do so? Did J.K. taking any banking reserch before he wrote this book? Did he really believe a teenaged girl who has never touched a gun in her life, could shoot like a swatteam sharp shooter? Give me certain credit as a mature reader, OK? I have to get into a lifeboat before reading your novels again if I didn't find you were still salvageable in your JUST CAUSE

1997-06-11 | Helpful Votes: 9 | Rating: 1

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