The Madman's Tale

Rating:
Summary: Katzenbach at his best
Review: In "The Madman's Tale," John Katzenbach has produced a well-written thriller with an unusual protagonist and an eerie setting. Francis "C-Bird" Petrel is a former patient of a state mental hospital who recounts a series of unsolved murders that occurred at the asylum years ago. The narrative weaves together the present and past as Francis revisits the closed-down asylum for a series of lectures and then grapples with the memories and internal voices of his past. He decides to write down, in pencil on the walls of his apartment, the story of life in the asylum and his role in helping track down the serial killer known simply as "The Angel." As Francis composes his tale, his madness threatens to resurface and prevent him from completing the story.

After being committed to the hospital at the age of 21 following a violent outburst against his family, Francis struggled to adjust to institutional life. He was befriended by Peter the Fireman, a former arson investigator under psychiatric evaluation for setting fire to a church. Fellow inmate Lanky announced that an angel visited him and commanded him to stamp out evil. Lanky was found with the blood of a slain nurse on his clothing and was accused of the murder. Prosecuting attorney Lucy Jones visited the hospital because of similarities between this murder and those against other women that had previously occurred outside the confines of the hospital. She felt that Lanky was wrongly accused and that the murder was the work of a serial killer now hiding out in the asylum. She called upon Francis and Peter to help her track down the killer among the institution inmates.

Lucy and her helpers soon discovered that finding a murderer in a mental institution was no easy matter. The usual investigative techniques did not work. How can they find a psychopath among thousands of psychotics and other mentally ill patients? What is considered suspicious behavior in a place where the abnormal is normal and where the illogical is routine? Are they looking for signs of sanity or insanity in a suspect? How can they interview witnesses or suspects without setting off a disruption of the institutional routine that could upset the inmates?

Katzenbach provides a powerful portrayal of the despair and hopelessness of asylum life through an array of disillusioned inmates and bureaucratic medical staff. He includes touching portraits of a would-be Napoleon and a would-be Cleopatra who befriend Francis. Through schizophrenics, catatonics, psychotics, and the delusional, he portrays inmates who rely on medications to keep mental demons at bay and who often lose the battle to regain sanity and reentry into the outside world. With echoes of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," this book is a fascinating, eerie, and suspenseful must-read.

Eileen Rieback

Rating:
Summary: A smart, creepy thriller.
Review: In 1979 Francis Petrel was committed to the Western State Hospital for his erratic behavior. Surrounded by medicated zombies, Francis, desperate to stop the voices in his head, makes friends with several inmates: an ex-fireman with a thirst for fire, a would-be Napoleon and a man who imagines devils. But, as the men open up to each other, a shocking crime will force them to confront the fact that a killer may be among them.

A nurse is found sexually assaulted and brutally murdered late one night after lights-out. The police suspect an inmate, while the patients talk of a white-shrouded "angel" lurking the halls at night. A mysterious prosecuting attorney arrives with her own theory about the killing, but after more bodies are discovered she realizes that someone is turning the madhouse in a slaughterhouse.

Twenty-years later the doors of the Western State Hospital are being closed for good and Francis, now living in an apartment and taking his meds to keep the "voices" quiet, needs to tell the story of the nightmarish days at the hospital. Armed with his pencil, Francis begins writing everything he remembers about the murders, but since the crimes were never solved he fears his story will remain unfinished, until the killer returns...with a vengeance.

'The Madman's Tale' is a shocking thriller. A creepy mental hospital is the setting for a twisted story about broken individuals and how far their illnesses will push them. The plot twists will keep readers turning the pages and the narrative will keep them guessing as the journey through the main character's mind is unpredictable and spooky.

John Katzenbach has been writing original thrillers for years and his newest is one of his finest. 'The Madman's Tale' is the perfect book for readers looking for a smart, intricately plotted thriller.

Nick Gonnella

Rating:
Summary: Mystery in a Madhouse
Review: This story of a murder in an institution is told by one of the patients that experienced the events. He decides to tell the story and begins writing it on the white walls of his apartment.

The tale moves between present day, as his obsession with telling the story leads to a decline in his mental health; to the events that happened 20 years earlier when he was involuntarily committed by his parents to Western State Hospital.

This is a mystery with the added twist of being set in a mental hospital, where reality is as flimsy as a hospital gown. The administration believes the patient the police arrested has committed the crime and gives little credence to the investigator from the D.A. who arrives on the trail of an apparent serial killer. The investigator, a beautiful young woman with a mysterious scar across her face, enlists Francis Petrol, the narrator, and Peter an ex-firefighter who is being evaluated at Western.

We get to know several of the patients that Francis befriends while he attempts to navigate the strange world of the mental hospital. Francis sees the loneliness and sadness inside many of these patients, and indeed these emotions are a part of him as well.

Very enjoyable!