Psych: The Call of the Mild

Another good Psych adventure and the best of the three I have read so far. For the first time in reading these tie-in books to the excellent TV series, I was genuinely invested in what was happening and how Shawn and Gus would solve the mystery. Sure, there were flaws in the story: Henry offering his hand at the end seemed a teeny bit deus ex machina, and the events of chapter 39 seemed a bit too dark for what I'd normally expect from Psych. I also still hold out hope that Juliet O'Hara will one day become more than a bit-part player in the books (although this is a personal bugbear; she wouldn't really fit into the story in this one). But The Call of the Mild is a really good offering, with plenty of great moments of humour and, as I show more said above, a mystery plot I was actually invested in. It helps that much of the story takes place in a confined location, allowing plot strands to coalesce rather than spread out even further, making the story somewhat more taut and focused and overall just better than the previous two books. Author William Rabkin also has more fun with the reader in this one, with a few good twists in the story and also some knowing winks at the reader, such as the clever 'air quotes' scene on pages 45-6. To be honest, there's a lot of good scenes and I think I probably laughed out loud more with this book than the previous two combined. There's been a steady improvement in the quality of the books as I've progressed through the series - let's hope that continues in books four and five. show less

Psychic detectives Shawn and Gus are commissioned to find a second grade teacher’s lost necklace. Clearly there is more to this case than meets the eye when they are held up at gunpoint and their client turns up murdered. Shawn and Gus realized they’ve stumbled upon a case of high-tech espionage and things only get more out of hand when their undercover assignment to unmask the murderer results in a weeklong retreat into the wilderness. Meanwhile, because their client’s death occurred out of Santa Barbara’s limits, a jurisdiction battle ensues until the other town’s responding police officer agrees to a joint task force only if it means he gets to work alongside his hero – retired SBPD detective and Shawn’s father, Henry show more Spencer.

Similar to the other books in this series, this book is primarily for viewers of the TV series, to the point that little background information is explained (i.e., the fact that Shawn is not actually a psychic). Likewise, the main characters are not really described in any detail but anyone who has seen the show can immediately picture their mannerisms and so forth. The book begins with a brief prologue set in 1988, just like how the show usually starts with a past exchange between young Shawn and his father tying into that episode's story or theme. This book was still missing Shawn's frequent "Gus-don't-be-a" [fill in the blank with some preposterous word or phrase] but includes some of Shawn’s other verbal quirks like the bizarre names he often gives Gus when introducing him to someone new and the frequent references to 80s pop culture.

The story is told in third person narrative from multiple points of view (i.e., Henry, Officer Rasmussen, etc.) but largely from Gus’s point of view, which allows the reader to be privy to everything Shawn is but still leaves the reader in the position of not having all the tiny clues available to them or drawing together their significance. This still all needs to be explained to the reader via Shawn’s dialogue with Gus. Unfortunately, some regular characters from the show we see little of in this particular book due to so much of it taking place in the wilderness. Lassiter has only a few moments early on, while Juliet and Chief Vick are hardly seen at all.

Speaking of the wilderness section, I felt like this part dragged and that’s why I gave this book a lower rating than the others in the series. Much of this section felt very un-Psych like, with the characters of Gus and Shawn not quite living up to their usual roles while, as I mentioned above, some of the other regulars were not around at all. Also, and this is rather unusual for Psych, I figured out who the killer was long before Shawn did, which made the rest of the plodding on through the wilderness all the more painful to read through. For instance, the ecoterrorists subplot just felt like filler and the book could have just as easily been written without this while still making perfect sense. The denouement was sort of anti-climactic then despite the author’s attempts to make it thrilling.

Throughout the book, there were some typos here and there that were not a huge deal but just enough to be distracting. Overall, the book was very witty and funny, sometimes laugh out loud so. It wasn’t my favorite in the series so far but it was entertaining enough to provide a good distraction from the power being out for days in my home after Hurricane Sandy. show less

Let me start off by saying that I'm a big fan of the show Psych, huge fan. That being said, this book is a complete mess.

In a series of books, I expect each book to get better. That was the case so far with this series. The first book was just okay. The second book, Mind over Magic was fantastic, but this book fell way short. This is worse than the first book.

**Could be considered very minor spoilers**

If you've read the back of the book, it makes it sound like Shawn and Gus are go on a wilderness retreat to catch a killer. This really isn't so. They don't go on the retreat until half way through the book. The back of the book mentions that one of the people on the retreat are killed. This doesn't happen til the very end. I felt this show more was very misleading. I know that's not the fault of the writer to much, but I consider it part of the book.

The book starts with Shawn and Gus trying to solve a case of a missing necklace, and it goes from there. That's all I really want to say about the plot.

**End minor spoilers**

The characters are off.

Shawn: Shawn is kind of annoying in this book. I know that part of the show deals with references of 80's shows and movies (and it's a nice touch to the series) but it was done way, way, way, to much in this book. It was done so much that it actually took away from the story.

Gus: This part surprised me. The book is pretty much told from Gus' point of view. This makes it kind of a difficult read. The series isn't about Gus, but Shawn. I do agree that Gus is an important part of the show, but there was to much emphasis on Gus.

Henry: This part could have been the worse. We get a lot of insight of Henry, but it does nothing to the story. It's all meaningless. All of it. We get an entire chapter devoted to his musical tastes. An **entire** chapter! This is so unnecessary. Heck, Henry is part of a band. This is so out of character for the Henry that we know and love. There's a plot line that involves him that was never brought to a conclusion. As a reader, we're left hanging.

Juliet: Boy, she sure was grouch in this book. In the series, she's nice, sweet and innocent. Not so in this book. She's grouch and not a pleasant person to be around. I had to read her parts twice, just to make sure I was reading about the right character.

The dialogue is kind of tedious at time. Esp when Shawn and Gus are talking. I know what Rabkin was trying to do, but boy was he off the mark. There wasn't even a "psych" review of the crime at the end of the book.

This is a major let down. I was really excited when I heard this was coming out and I knew how much I loved Mind Over Magic, I thought this would be as good if not better. I was wrong and disappointed.

If you want to read this.... go to the library. This book was off the mark. show less

I wasn't sure if I was going to like novelised versions of the show I love, but I wasn't disappointed. Sure, it's kinda cheesy - so is the show!

I didn't mind that it was from Gus's perspective. I think it works. But I do agree that Henry Spencer seemed way out of character, but I chose to ignore him for the most part.

One of the best tie-in novels I've ever read, in that it captures perfectly the flavour of the canon and managed to make me LOL in public.

This is a wonderful, well written series that perfectly preserves the essence of Psych as it follows the adventures of Shawn and Gus. It is so true to the television series that reading it is like seeing an episode in your head.