http://www.literaryfeline.com/2006/09/review-of-psychopath-by-keith-ablow.html ( )

This was a book that the "who done it" was well established from the very start of the book. It was the "why" that the story centered around. I really liked the Frank Clevenger character. A little too much description of the killers feelings but overall a very interesting story. ( )

Psychopath by Keith Ablow
Fiction
A forensic psychiatrist writes a book about a forensic psychiatrist helping the FBI hunt down and capture the Highway Killer who happens to be a psychiatrist sans forensic. Sounds good to me. Sounds like a triple whammy. So why is the first burning question I have, 'What happens to the earth-toned-natural-fibered clothes our killer sports? Is he so successfully control freaky that he can keep the mess of murder off his ensembles?' He is also supposedly outdoorsy. No mention of flannel or denim. Does he go camping in his bloodied day clothes? If this isn't riveting enough, he, a doctor mind you, takes blood from his victims with a syringe and keeps it mixed in a vial from which he has the occasional taste. I guess his victims look healthy. The most frightening thing about this book is how easily this could be about a Highway Killer, who is a forensic psychiatrist, writing a book about a forensic psychiatrist who is writing a book about a forensic psychiatrist hunting a forensic psychiatrist who is killing people and writing a book about it.
Perversely, I fully intend to read all his other books. Oh, and don't worry, I haven't let any cats out of the bag. I didn't even tell you about the naked ego running rampant throughout or the truly pathetic female characters and that's only the ones that are allowed to live.
Write on Ablow. I'll be there.
Recommended by Geo, December 2004

Better than average potboiler with some penetrating psychological insights, and does a nice job of asking the audience why they’re drawn to reading about murders. It’s a little too well-written for my taste, too close to the way it would play in real life and doesn’t take risks (there’s only one scene where a leading character is in danger), but worth a go. The second half of the book has several epistolary chapters, but the strategy does introduce nuance, allowing for the plot to move and the book to be deeper than an episode of Criminal Minds.

This was the first Frank Clevenger mystery for me. I liked it well enough to go find more novels by Ablow. ( )