Showing posts with label psychology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label psychology. Show all posts

Friday, October 5, 2012

The Whisperer by Donato Carrisi

The WhispererTitle: The Whisperer
Author: Donato Carrisi
Series: Stand Alone
Pages: 432
Published: January 5th 2012 by Mulholland Books
ISBN: 9780316194723
Source: Publisher via Netgalley








 Description:  Six severed arms are discovered, arranged in a mysterious circle and buried in a clearing in the woods. Five of them appear to belong to missing girls between the ages of eight and eighteen. The sixth is yet to be identified. Worse still, the girls' bodies, alive or dead, are nowhere to be found.  Lead investigators Mila Vasquez, a celebrated profiler, and Goran Gavila, an eerily prescient criminologist, dive into the case. They're confident they've got the right suspect in their sights until they discover no link between him and any of the kidnappings except the first. The evidence in the case of the second missing child points in a vastly different direction, creating more questions than it answers.  Vasquez and Gavila begin to wonder if they've been brought in to take the fall in a near-hopeless case. Is it all coincidence? Or is a copycat criminal at work? Obsessed with a case that becomes more tangled and intense as they unravel the layers of evil, Gavila and Vasquez find that their lives are increasingly in each other's hands.

I Give This ...
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I've had this on my review pile for a long time but for some reason never got a round to reading it.  It's a book that would have fallen into the category of the books I always read before I started blogging.  I haven't found as much enjoyment with this type as of late.

What first caught my attention was the pure genius/insanity of our killer in this story.  The details are so intricately woven together that I often wondered if we would every truly piece it all together.  We get each part of the story a little bit at a time.  It was interesting to see how our killer interacted with each of these people he brings to the investigators attention.  I loved how he pointed out the there so many individuals who are leading normal lives hiding dark and terrible secrets.

I think part of the problem is that its entirely too long.  I think parts of the story could have been edited and it wouldn't have lost and of its shock value.  It also spends far to much time telling you things.  I've read my fair share of thrillers, and most of the things this book repeatedly tells you are things one is already familiar with.   I get that the author is trying to help us understand the mind of the killer, but I just found it annoying. 

I think die hard fans of thrillers will really like this one.  I think it just goes to prove that I'm on the outs with this genre



Tuesday, October 27, 2009

The Manufactured Identity by Heath Sommer

The Manufactured Identity


Title: The Manufactured Identity
Author: Heath Sommer
Publication: June 2009 by Tate Pub & Enterprise Llc
Pages: 308
ISBN: 9781606965504


Description:  Months after his mysterious disappearance from a routine fishing trip, no one really expects over-the-hill Texas housewife Lory Latchley to find her missing husband—especially her husband. The Manufactured Identity is clinical psychologist Heath Sommer's ever-escalating immersion into the world of unlikely friends who each awaken to find their faithful companions missing without warning or reason. Desperate to find meaning in their pain, they are thrust by the auspices of fate into a common thread of mystery and human frailty. In the end, the fate of all may reside in the unstable hands of rookie pastor John Joe, but ultimately Lory and her newfound partners will uncover a truth so unnerving it makes even infidelity look palatable.


I Give This Book 4 Stars!


I was intrigued from the first couple pages of The Manufactured Identity.  I love psychological mystery/thrillers, and have to say that this is one of the best.  I've found most doctors turned writers try not to show too much of their psychology backgrounds in a story they've written.  But, I found this book was the opposite and I loved every minute of it.  But, then I have a B.S. in psychology so I sort of revel in this kind of stuff.  I wasn't sure were the story was going for a while and there are a lot of characters to keep track of.  But, as I soon found out, this was all part of the point.  It was fascinating to watch the story unfold and I was completely shocked at what the whole truth entailed.  I thought the person revealed in the end was different, so I liked being surprised.  In the end was very glad to have read this book!


* A special thanks to the Author, Dr. Heath Sommer, for the chance to review this book!

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