Home
/
Fiction
/
The Madman's Tale
The Madman's Tale
Apr 29, 2025 1:14 AM

Author:John Katzenbach

The Madman's Tale

When the body of a young female nurse is found horribly murdered in the Western State Mental Hospital, Massachusetts, there is apparently no shortage of suspects - a whole hospital of them. One inmate claims to have seen the killer who he will only describe as The Angel.

Twenty years later, Francis Petrel, once a patient at the hospital, writes his account of the events of the murder and its investigation on the walls of his tiny apartment. As he goes deeper and deeper into his story, he plunges further into the return of his own madness. He remembers how he is co-opted into the investigation by Lucy Jones, a driven young profiler who has her own reasons for pursuing this particular killer. But she, and Francis, face the same conundrum: how does one find a cold blooded killer masquerading as mad in a world populated by the deranged?

In the end it will come down to Francis for he is the only one of the investigating team capable of recognizing the essential lie that The Angel embodies: for though his acts are those of a mad man, he most emphatically is not...

Reviews

'Wonderful. This haunting story will linger in your mind long after you've left the asylum'

—— Miami Herald

'Beautifully written, thoroughly engrossing thriller'

—— Boston Globe

'A novel that rises to the top of the genre, a page-turner whose authenticity takes the reader on an unexpected journey'

—— Denver Post

'A tour de force, superior storytelling designed to scare your pants off and very likely to succeed'

—— Washington Post

Kurt Wallander is right up there with Ian Rankin's John Rebus

—— Waterstone's Books Quarterly

A truly impressive writer

—— We Love This Book

Possibly Child's best Reacher novel yet

—— Yorkshire Post

Another great book for him, gives us hero Jack Reacher's back-story. Hurrah

—— Kate Atkinson , Daily Telegraph

Lee Child writes a good story, twisting it into labyrinthine folds and keeping his readers guessing right to the end. He has obviously done his research

—— Irish Times

Utterley irresistible, proof that there is no substitute...

—— Observer

If Fifty Shades is your thing, you might just love The Engagement.

—— Wendy Holden , Daily Mail

Hooper serves up a chilling story of obsession, delusion, and the slippery nature of sexual identity.

—— Claire Allfree , Metro

There’s more than a shade of Fifty Shades in this erotic, psychological thriller...the unreliability of the narrator will have you guessing till the end of this dark and thought provoking tale.

—— Sunday Mirror

This is a tense, elegant, psychological thriller about an emotional tug-of-war... This tale of self-willing entrapment keeps us guessing to the end... Compelling and memorable.

—— Viv Groskop , Red Magazine

Hooper has constructed a modern fairy tale of a kind, complete with Bluebeard and his castle, and using some of the fictional paraphernalia of Gothic horror and melodrama she delivers a compelling, at times disturbing, but always humorous and readable cautionary tale.

—— Brian McCabe , Herald

The difficulty with a thriller - even if it is literary - is not to fall into cliche and predictability. At the points where it seems as this may happen, Hooper wrong foots the reader without losing any credibility, leading to a very clever ending.

—— bookmunch

This beautifully crafted psychological thriller really got under my skin.

—— A.N. Wilson , Readers Digest

Hooper is a very clever writer. Her prose is uncluttered, but every phrase is packed with meaning.

—— bookoxygen.com

A chilling, compulsive read.

—— Fanny Blake , Woman & Home

New, dark literary thriller...read it for its seductive plot.

—— Tatler

A dark unsettling read which will appeal to fans of the gothic as well as those who enjoy tales of twisted relationships such as Gone Girl.

—— lisabooks.blogspot

Literary thriller The Engagement by Chloe Hooper takes a Fifty-shades style plot about erotic games between estate agent Liesel and business man Alexander to a darker place.

—— Good Housekeeping

Part gothic novel, part thriller, this will keep you guessing until the end.

—— Glamour

Hooper has crafted a terrific tale full of dark corners and dead-ends that leave the reader wondering what to believe. The result is a collision between a psychological thriller and a very dark romance that has something for fans of either genre.

—— Irish Examiner

The Engagement has all the ingredients of a top psychological thriller with the bonus of literary style. I think it could be a huge hit. I hope so. I really want to see the film…

—— Literary Sofa Blog

Beautifully crafted and sleek psychological thriller… The Engagement, by one of Australia’s newest and brightest writers, explores mind control, power games and emotional abuse, so do not expect it to be a romance novel as it is, most definitely, not!

—— Yattar Yattar

An unsettling thriller... A book which deftly explores the power of money and property, romance and sex

—— Marie Claire

A dark, erotic and tense tale

—— Grazia

Plain and lucid, with beautifully accurate word-choice, and plenty of grace-notes that one pauses to appreciate... A highly intelligent, unpredictable, very grown-up, and crazily readable novel

—— Brandon Robshaw , Independent on Sunday

A sleek and sly two-hander, a thriller almost, that sets everything out clearly for the reader and yet remains filled with uncertainty

—— John Self , Guardian

An intense psychological thriller, strewn with enough red herrings to satisfy the most demanding reader

—— Mail on Sunday

Hooper's writing is singularly challenging and confrontational... For those who prefer their erotic literature less Fifty Shades of Grey, more Jane Eyre

—— Daily Telegraph

A fine, literary thriller; cold, at times almost nauseatingly disturbing

—— Alison Flood , Guardian

A fascinating, subtle, really original modern Gothic thriller

—— Rebecca Chance , Daily Record
Comments
Welcome to zzdbook comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdbook.com All Rights Reserved