The Architect

How would you feel if the man you hired to build your house never stopped? Not only did he continue to construct your house but began to also construct your life, make you perfect. If you didn't become perfect you could simply be eliminated and he would start anew. It was a good book overall but it started rather slow. Keep reading it picks up.

Ablow's Frank Clevenger series began with an appearance by this forensic psychologist back in 1998 in Denial. In every subsequent book, we get a great thriller story interspersed with Clevenger's own personal trials, and THE ARCHITECT is no different.

The main storyline of this book, that of an architect who believes he's doing God's work by reshaping the lives of the people he builds houses for, is definitely overshadowed by the story of Clevenger himself. His own battle with alcoholism (reminiscent of that of Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder), his on-again-off-again very realistic relationship with his FBI girlfriend, and the tightrope he walks with his adopted son, Billy, take front row.

Although the bad guy in this book keeps the show more story fresh and the plot intense, to me it was the underlying story of Clevenger and his life that held my real interest. I was left at the last page not with the feeling of "good, the bad guy is dead," but that of "what's going to happen to Billy?"

I guess you could say I'm hooked. show less

Great Novel! It was a quick read, and captured my interest from the first page. The writing flows well, and the main characters are very well developed. You get a sense that there is great depth behind both West Crosse and Frank Clevenger. Several of the other characters in the book were less developed, yet they still worked. You get just enough sense of the lives of West Crosse's victims to regret their deaths, not enough to prevent their dismissal from the heart and mind pretty quickly.

The imagery surrounding this particular killers' murders is pretty gruesome. I never was violated by the story, and the author's treatment of the death scenes was handled without a lot of blood and gore, but the twisted mind that would do the things show more West Crosse did was a very disturbing thought.

There is a second story within this story, or perhaps it is the main story, with the West Crosse murders a sub story. The story of the struggle of Frank to relate to his son, Billy, who is adopted and disturbed, while dealing with emotions driven out of his own similar past, is a very relevant and interesting. It humanized the story line, and brought it into the "real" world.

I would highly recommend this novel to most people. It has enough relevance that I believe most people would find it interesting and valuable to read. I am interested in reading more of Keith Ablow's work. show less

West Crosse is a brilliant, handsome architect with a love of ideal beauty and a commitment to creating it at all costs. But the rich, powerful families who employ him don't realize that he has a dark side: Crosse can't stop at designing their homes, he must make their lives beautiful as well.

To Crosse, that means murdering abusive spouses, a toxic lover, predatory business partners or anyone else who doesn't fit with his ideal of perfection. As Crosse begins his master work, the FBI's Frank Clevenger begins the ultimate cat and mouse game. I enjoyed this book and give it an A+!

West Crosse, the architect, is a perfectionist to a fault....a big fault. Not only must his Mansions be perfectly suited to the client, Crosse doesn't stop there. Crosse and Dr. Clevenger, a forensic psychiatrist, are deeply and broadly fleshed out by Ablow. I feel like I know them really well. Ablow is a genius at doing this.

Keith Ablow's best book so far, except maybe the first. You get to know the killer intimately, and the parallels with the psychological issues Frank Clevenger is working through is fascinating. Couldn't put it down.

maniac architect sounds like an interesting idea, pregnant with possibilities. Disturbed psychiatrist on the other hand - seems like a cliche at this point.I thought the father-son portion of the book was really underdeveloped, pretty raw. Overall, book started out well, but got scattered towards the end. And, really predictable. Couldn't wait to finish this one, but not in a good way...