The Analyst

Rating:
Summary: A wonderfully crafted mystery!
Review: 'The Analyst' by talented storyteller John Katzenbach is a wonderfully crafted mystery. I had trouble putting the book down once I started reading it.

It is an engaging tale that sent shivers down my spine. An upper East Side psychoanalyst, Dr. Fredrick Starks spends his 53rd B.D. at an office party listening to people complain about their mothers. After the last patient leaves the good doctor discovers an anonymous letter delivering a chilling ultimatum. And so this page turning thriller begins.

'The Analyst' is a book that demands attention and gets it!

Rating:
Summary: A bit like entering the Twilight Zone
Review: Although I felt there were a few plot holes at the beginning, I have to admit that I still enjoyed this book immensely. Psychoanalyst Dr. Frederick Starks, who is at the heart of this one, is being threatened by someone connected to his past in some way. Poor Dr. Starks is given the choice between killing himself within 15 days or facing the reality that those he knows will be picked off one by one, randomly and suddenly, by someone known only as "Rumplestiltskin" (or by one of his accomplices).
In the meantime, Rumplestiltskin wreaks havoc on Stark's life, destroying his credit, cancelling bank accounts, even murdering ex-patients. To his credit, author John Katzenbach keeps the clues coming while upping the tension at the same time.
I felt like Dr. Stark's life had become something out of the Twilight Zone, one which no longer contained the normal perameters which many of us take for granted. His home is no longer a haven (Rumplestiltskin invades it at will), his computer and tax records are stoken, even his accounts are up for grabs. All this, of course, takes a toll and Dr. Stark begins to feel the stress. Can Dr. Stark find the madman behind all this before he himself unravels? I couldn't stop reading till I found out.

Rating:
Summary: Read This Book NOW!
Review: This is, without a doubt, the most compelling, suspenseful book I've read in months. Just imagine -- you're a self-important psychotherapist, very self-centered, your life is going along in a rut that you've worked hard to build, and actually like. Then, someone very smart, very creative, and very full of raw hate gives you fifteen days to kill yourself, or see everyone near you "destroyed." Why? Who is it? What to do?

The Analyst has repeated peaks of tension, but not much letup in pace. As a result, you find yourself hyperventilating, staying up all night to finish it, being satisfied when you're done, but sad that it's over, and you run out to get more of John Katzenbach's books to see if they even come close. Stay tuned...

Rating:
Summary: IS HE KIDDING???
Review: Katzenbach's characters do not seem to behave in reasonable or justifiable ways. Dr. Ricky never considers going to the police from the get-go. His training analyst just happens to be far more involved than first alluded to, with little explanation and no justification for his behaviors. A very disappointing book from an author capable of writing exceptional thrillers.

Rating:
Summary: A tightly written thriller.
Review: Happy fifty-third birthday, Doctor. Welcome to the first day of yourdeath.(...)

This is the mysterious letterDr. Frederick Stark receives, thus plunging him into the heart of anightmare.

Not knowing whether or not to take this letter serious,Stark starts going through everyone in his family to warn them when hereaches one relative who has already been victim to Rumplestiltskin'spranks.

Stark realizes he must decipher the clues set forth and findthis stranger's identity before anyone in his family dies.

With hisbank account empty, and his credit ruined, Stark is quickly losing hislife. And, to make matters worse, Stark is being lead through thismaze by a mysterious woman in a trench coat named Virgil.

Can Starkstop this madman?

'The Analyst' is a tightly written thriller,that draws readers in early on. The middle of the novel does takesome turns that slow up the pace, but when things get back on trackthey race along to the explosive ending.

John Katzenbach hasconsistently written original thrillers, and his new one should garnera world of acclaim, and earn him hordes of new fans.

Thrillerreaders looking for an intelligent thriller should pick this up, youwill not be disappointed.

Nick Gonnella

Rating:
Summary: I hate to be picky, but...
Review: John Katzenbach should be commended for writing a new and different thriller with each new novel he writes. Unlike many authors, he doesn't repeat himself. In "The Analyst", however, he seems to have gotten caught up in the drudgery of writing: parts of the book seem like they must have been painful to write: they were painfully dull to read. Though suspenseful in places, the story tends to get bogged down and tedious at times. Particularly in the initial section, where the suspense should have been building word by word, there were times when Frederick - and the plot - seemed almost paralyzed. One picky detail - in Ricky's "suicide", he wrote a presciption for 30 - 30mg Elavil. First, Elavil doesn't come in 30 mg. tablets. Second, the pharmacist acted as though Elavil was an archaic, never used drug that no rational doctor would write for. In actuality, despite what the detail men for Zoloft, Prozac and other new antidepressants would have you believe, Elavil is still used quite extensively for depression, sleep and the treatment of nerve pain. I hate it when writers get little details like this wrong!

Rating:
Summary: Phenomenally absorbing thriller
Review: I've always been a fan of Katzenbach, but he has really outdone himself on this one. The hero is Dr. Ricky Starks, an ineffectual analyst and widower, who takes comfort in the pleasant little routine his life has become after his wife's death. It is only when he receives an anonymous letter from someone he has allegedly wronged in the past that his entire world -- from reputation to finances to his very home -- are completely uprooted. From there, the book takes an extraordinary turn as Ricky looks for both a way out and a means for vengeance. Just terrific plotting. I actually found myself having dreams about how the book would end before I finished it up.

Rating:
Summary: A psychoanalyst is threatened by an unknown stalker.
Review: I loved John Katzenbach's novel, "Just Cause," which I read a number of years ago. It was a truly creepy psychological thriller that had me turning the pages eagerly to find out how the story would turn out. Sadly, few of the elements that made "Just Cause" so riveting are present in Katzenbach's latest novel, "The Analyst."

Dr. Frederick Starks, known as Ricky, is a stodgy New York psychoanalyst who leads a predictable and somewhat boring existence. Since the death of his wife, his life centers around his routines, which include seeing patients, taking walks, and going to his summer home on Cape Cod during vacations. Ricky never had children, he has few friends, and he never speaks to his relatives. His life is uncluttered and to him, fairly satisfying.

Little does Ricky know that there is a mysterious stranger who hates him and who wants to punish him for a wrong that he committed years ago. This stranger, along with his confederates, will settle for nothing less than the utter destruction of Dr. Frederick Starks.

In "The Analyst," Katzenbach uses the time-honored device of the dynamics between the hunter and the hunted. I cannot count how many thrillers have used the same device. Will Ricky be able to find out the identity of his stalker before it's too late? Who is this mysterious stranger and what has Ricky done to incur his wrath?

The answers to these and other questions are slow in coming. For 424 pages, we are strung along, through dozens of twists and turns, as Ricky and his opponents thrust and parry. "The Analyst" is in need of heavy editing. The plot is overly convoluted and extremely short on logic. Ricky's character is underdeveloped; he behaves more like a machine than like a man. It is almost laughable how he completely alters his persona to meet the threat that faces him. In fairly short order, Ricky changes from a computer illiterate to an enthusiastic Internet surfer, and from a mild-mannered and sedentary psycholanalyst to a gun-toting survivalist.

I was curious how the plot would play out, but by the time I got to the ending of "The Analyst," I was more exhausted than satisfied. "The Analyst," although occasionally gripping, is an unfocused and incoherent thriller.

Rating:
Summary: 3 1/2 stars
Review: See storyline above.

After reading Katzenbach's last novel 'Harts War', I decided to put him on my must read list. After reading 'The Analyst' I've decided to keep him on my list, but he will be moved closer to the bottom. The book is a deep psychological thriller. A highly detailed look at the psyche of one man. I will agree that the story had me hooked, but I had to read through many pages that described nothing but feelings. Is it fast-paced? No. Is it a story with a lot of depth? Yes. I still recommend this as a good thriller because it tells a good story, even though it is a little verbose.

Rating:
Summary: Not unlike a Grisham
Review: Fast paced read with intricate plot not unlike a Grisham except the main character is a psychoanalyst, not a lawyer. Far fetched, surely, but will keep your interest as you observe the transformation of a man of inaction to action.