Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't keep my interest
Review: This book started off really strong for me, and then suddenly, without warning, I totally and completely lost interest. I didn't notice that at first - it was a weird thing - first my mind started wandering and then, finally, the last straw, I started not only skipping sentences, but that led to paragraphs and then finally, I was skipping pages. I put the book down after the end of the first section - after the fake suicide.
Here are my reasons:
1. Too much detail - way too much!
2. Too much needless information - things I didn't need to know were discussed in great detail
3. The book was physically hard to read - small type and too many words on the page - oh, and the chapters were very long too.
I just couldn't get into this story. While I was intrigued in the beginning, by the time I put the book down, I couldn't care less about who the Mr. R was - his reach seemed impossibly long, and there was not one ounce of reality in this book. The characters just didn't ring true at all...
Anyway, all in all, this book was a flop in my eyes.
Rating: 
Summary: Gripping and Original
Review: Noted mystery writer John Katzenbach has taken a relatively mundane middle-aged character, Dr. Ricky Starks, and transformed him into a dynamic action hero hell-bent on survival but, in a curiously unique twist, not outright revenge. In this fashion his humanity and core compassion, qualities that originally led him as a young man to his chosen profession, are admirably maintained despite the incredible nightmare his life becomes upon the occasion of his 53rd birthday. Katzenbach expends considerable time and attention on the gradual evolution of his hero from an urban creature of comfort and habit, mouselike almost, into a crafty, cunning survivalist of the first order. In doing so, he draws us deep into Dr. Starks' mind and unfathomable dilemma. Well-researched in the illicit tradecraft of online and identity fraud, the novel pits the hero against many of the nightmares of emerging 21st century crime. It is a wonderfully original, thrilling and intellectually stimulating read that will make an excellent movie if Hollywood can only harness its genetic urge to to conduct a major rewrite, a la Katzenbach's "Hart's War".
Rating:
Summary: The Analyst
Review: I could not put down this book- from cover to cover it kept me wanting to read more. I am now reading all of Katzenbach's books as this was the first of his I had ever read- I gave it to a coworker and we are both hooked! If you like a thriller that leaves you solving puzzles, you will love this book!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and edge-of -seat reading
Review: This was one of the best thrillers I have read in a while. From the first page, I was hooked and could not put the book down. As my title suggests, it is definitely an edge of the seat read and keeps your mind moving the whole time. I have never read John Katzenbach before, but if the rest of his books are this good, I will be checking them all out! If you want a fast-paced, exciting read, then this is the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun but requires willing suspension of disbelief
Review: John Katzenbach's 'The Analyst' offers a fun read that is tough to put down but requires a willing suspension of disbelief at several points in the story. The analyst is Dr. Frederick Starks, a psychoanalyst who is given 15 days to deal with a man who calls himself Rumpelstiltskin. The doctor's options - uncover Rumpelstiltskin or kill himself. Otherwise Rumpelstiltskin threatens to kill someone near and dear to him.It is an ingenious plot with two ingredients that always make an interesting story - riddles and a race against time. The doctor's search is tense and exciting and Rumpelstiltskin makes a nice villain - an invisible puppetmaster with enormous resources and reach. The turnaround at the midpoint re-energizes the plot and pulls us in even further. Thankfully, the hero's age and predicament rule out any routine romantic entanglement that would have slowed down the pace. But the book also requires a willing suspension of disbelief and is littered with incredulous happenings, coincidences and leaps of intuition by several characters. The transformation - both physical and mental - of the protagonist is too radical to be believable and the first and second halves of the book seem to be inhabited two different persons. He also has unbelievable leaps of intuition at crucial points(for instance, with the clerk at the clinic's records room) and there are coincidences galore. Overall a good read as long as you don't 'analyze' it too much!
Rating:
Summary: A REAL PAGE-TURNER
Review: This is quite possibly the best book I've ever read...I would recommend this to anyone who likes suspense, twisting plots, surprises and a super plot. I've never read this author but this book makes me want to try some of his past novels.
Rating:
Summary: A Psychoanalyst's Life Can Be Thrilling
Review: Dr. Frederick Starks is a psycholanalyst and the author initially leads the reader to believe the life of a psychoanalyst is both staid and boring. Within a very short time the reader realizes that this is simply not the case. John Katzenbach has a way of totally immersing his readers in the story he is weaving rapidly. Katzenbach's talent is that he writes about totally different subjects each time he publishes a book. The Analyst is no exception. From the moment Ricky Starks finishes with his last patient on the day before his regulary scheduled summer vacation is to begin and discovers a letter which has been left on a chair in his reception area inviting him to commit suicide until the reader closes the book nothing is routine. At sometime in his career, so the letter explains, he has destroyed someone's life and that person has vowed to destroy Ricky's unless within a two week period the good doctor can figure out who this mysterious former patient is/was. The stakes are high, the emotion intense as Starks tries to figure out how he failed and why the patient has waited so long to contact him. This book is character study at its peak. It involves intrigue, arson, murder, searching, finding, destroying and more. At first I almost put the book down because I thought it was going to be boring but then I thought about Katzenbach's other books and I'm glad I kept reading.
Rating:
Summary: Contrived
Review: Sixty pages was enough. I admit it: that's all I read of this book. It was about 45 pages too many. I found the premise and the plot contrived. And far-fetched. A stretch. And, unbelievable. And the main character, a successful analyst who I would imagine has some semblance of thought, well... he was simply dumb! Or maybe just simple. (Did he REALLY need to go to the police station to find out what happened to his patient? And did the answer come to any of us as a surprise????) ...
Rating:
Summary: Intense and Spellbinding
Review: If you are a fan of great thriller books, this is a great one. From the beginning of the book where Dr. Starks gets the letter that will forever change his life, to the climatic ending this book has you hooked. DO NOT listen to those below who say the book was boring. IT IS GREAT! Pick it up, and I promise that you wont regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Premise...lousy payoff....
Review: Okay, the last practicing psychoanalyst in America is the target for for revenge most chilling. So far, so good. The first half speeds along at a lightning pace (so you don't see the holes) until Dr. Ricky hits upon a pretty good solution to a hard ethical (and practical problem.) Very good. Very lucky. Then for the next third of the book, he gets smarter, and luckier. Until we have the first climax...where all is explained, except for one thing....and this restless reader is getting mightily annoyed at the power of co-incidence. By the time we get to the end, the big reveal is no big shock because...well, the book isn't exactly suspect dense. Might make a good movie with Michael Douglas.
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