Il manipolatore (original 2008; edition 2010)

I knew where every "twist" was going.

Of course the bad guy goes after Joe's family.

Julianne says Joe has changed and is looking for some one to blame. Yes the Parkinson's disease has mad him more melancholy. Julianne blames him. She blames him for her missing time with the children. Julianne is mad at him for suspecting her of being unfaithful. But she takes no responsibility for her actions, If you don't want people to think you are having an affair you don't let the office Don Juan put his hands all over you, you don't accept gifts of lingerie and sexy dresses from him. ( )

After finishing this novel -- an impulse purchase whilst on vacation -- I was very surprised it received glowing praise from Stephen King. This is not a suspenseful story at all. The ending became obvious about one-third of the way through. I liked a few of the characters but was disappointed by the protagonist, particularly how he views and interacts with the women around him. ( )

Joe O'Loughlin is on familiar territory--standing on a bridge high above a flooded gorge, trying to stop a distraught woman from jumping. She is naked, wearing only high-heel shoes, sobbing into a cell phone. Suddenly, she turns to him and whispers, You don't understand, and lets go. Joe is shattered by the suicide and haunted by his failure to save the woman, until her teenage daughter finds him and reveals that her mother would never have committed suicide-- not like that. She was terrified of heights. Compelled to investigate, Joe is soon obsessed with discovering who was on the other end of the phone. What could have driven her to commit such a desperate act? Whose voice? What evil? Having devoted his career to repairing damaged minds, Joe must now confront an adversary who tears them apart: a man who searches for the cracks in a person's psyche and claws his fingers inside, destroying what makes them whole. With pitch-perfect dialogue, believable characters, and intriguingly unpredictable plot twists, THE SLEEP OF REASON is guaranteed to keep even the most avid thriller readers riveted long into the night. ( )

Unexpected twists and turns along with a fascinating look into the mind of a horrific killer keep the reader on the edge of their seat as Shatter comes to its exciting and satisfying conclusion. To read my review in its entirety, please visit http://www.bookreviewsandmorebykathy.com/2012/01/26/shatter/ ( )

I was enjoying this for the first two thirds, but then the combination of Julianne turning on Joe and the way his family got dragged into terrible danger was all too much for me. I think I'm done with this series. ( )