A remarkable novel - horrific, lucid, moving and deeply thought-provoking. Ablow is not just an exceptionally gifted novelist, but as a practicing psychiatrist he clearly understand the dark undercurrents of the human mind. He and his tortured hero, Frank Clevenger, are unafraid to look even into the darkest soul and see the torment at work. The suffering of madness has rarely been so truly evoked. He remains compassionate without descending into cosy sentimentality and cheap pop-psychology. Although evoking a dark and often horrific world, Ablow isn't without hope in this apparently hopeless world. Despite the horror and violence, one is left with a feeling that redemption is possible and ultimtely this is heart-rendingly life-affirming.
A crime thriller that is gripping and startling, but has something to say about the horrors of our world, from an author unafraid to explore the true nature of evil and the madness that can touch us all.