Annalisa's review

The Prodigy: A Novel of Suspense
by Charles Atkins

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2751957.The_Prodigy_A_Novel_of_Suspense?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Prodigy: A Novel of Suspense" border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51E4O%2BJF8AL._SL160_.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2751957.The_Prodigy_A_Novel_of_Suspense?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Prodigy: A Novel of Suspense</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/166095.Charles_Atkins">Charles Atkins</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/32411488?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 3 of 5 stars This sort of modern fiction is not usually the type of book I read (alright I read plenty of it so maybe I should clarify that it's not the type of book I love) so I'm not sure what possessed me to pull this off the new material table at the library. It was probably the allure of music combined with a psychopath and at least in the psychology department, the author delivered. As a expert in psychology, his expertise and insights bled into the story so I enjoyed the profiling and analysis.
 
 But the characters annoyed me as modern-day fiction always does. I found them shallow and could have done without the pervasive use of the f word. I skimmed through the book before I committed to the read and told myself if I saw one I would not check it out because it was probably filled with them. It must have been a lucky skim. There were a few times in the first half of the book when I considered closing the novel and returning it unfinished. The shallow characters just weren't pulling me in the way I like in a novel. Surprising that the child abuse and other misdeeds by the mentally disturbed didn't bother me as much but the language, but it was the crude and violent use of the term that disturbed me. The abuse is disturbing, but maybe since most of it came later in the story when I was finally interested it didn't bother me as much. 
 
 I'm not being fair. I can't hold it against the author that I find little to sympathize with in this genre. I found the main character well written, particularly as a female protagonist written from a male author. And the villain was complex and creepy too. However when he would flip from monster to victim, I had trouble shifting with the main character's sympathy, which is probably a side effect of the intensity of bitterness I felt to his manipulation. The conflict is intense and page-turning at a few chapters.
 
 But here it is less than 24 hours after closing the book and I can't even remember the main character's name. And had I read this book pre-goodreads, it would soon be lost in the dozen or so other books floating around my head with snippets of character and plot without enough definition to remember a title or theme. It just wasn't strong enough to leave a lasting impression, but I'm at a loss to describe exactly what could make it stick. I can't exactly call it a light read with the heavy material, but certainly not anything I expected to gain something from. But for this modern mystery genre it certainly was better than many I have read but it wasn't anything I loved. But if you do like this genre, put this one on your list.
 
 To give a brief synopsis: it's about a profile psychiatrist who works for a state mental facility evaluating patients who avoided trial or imprisonment by reason of insanity. I learned a lot about psychological evaluation from the novel that I found enlightening. This main character (what was her name?!) gets a millionaire patient (Jim I do remember his name) who used his fortune to bribe his way into house arrest where he could practice his cello, his one passion and extreme talent in life. As psychiatrist X evaluates the patient she discovers that not only is he much sicker than he's been given credit for, part of that mental distortion is an obsession with her. She has to figure out a way to get him reincarcerated despite his bribing money and manipulation before he hurts anyone (most in danger is herself and anyone she knows).
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/542037?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Annalisa's review
rating:

bookshelves: guy-lit, mystery-thriller, psychology
recommended for: I'm not sure, sex, violence warning
status: Read in September, 2008

This sort of modern fiction is not usually the type of book I read (alright I read plenty of it so maybe I should clarify that it's not the type of book I love) so I'm not sure what possessed me to pull this off the new material table at the library. It was probably the allure of music combined with a psychopath and at least in the psychology department, the author delivered. As a expert in psychology, his expertise and insights bled into the story so I enjoyed the profiling and analysis.

But the characters annoyed me as modern-day fiction always does. I found them shallow and could have done without the pervasive use of the f word. I skimmed through the book before I committed to the read and told myself if I saw one I would not check it out because it was probably filled with them. It must have been a lucky skim. There were a few times in the first half of the book when I considered closing the novel and returning it unfinished. The shallow characters just weren't pulling me in th...more This sort of modern fiction is not usually the type of book I read (alright I read plenty of it so maybe I should clarify that it's not the type of book I love) so I'm not sure what possessed me to pull this off the new material table at the library. It was probably the allure of music combined with a psychopath and at least in the psychology department, the author delivered. As a expert in psychology, his expertise and insights bled into the story so I enjoyed the profiling and analysis.

But the characters annoyed me as modern-day fiction always does. I found them shallow and could have done without the pervasive use of the f word. I skimmed through the book before I committed to the read and told myself if I saw one I would not check it out because it was probably filled with them. It must have been a lucky skim. There were a few times in the first half of the book when I considered closing the novel and returning it unfinished. The shallow characters just weren't pulling me in the way I like in a novel. Surprising that the child abuse and other misdeeds by the mentally disturbed didn't bother me as much but the language, but it was the crude and violent use of the term that disturbed me. The abuse is disturbing, but maybe since most of it came later in the story when I was finally interested it didn't bother me as much.

I'm not being fair. I can't hold it against the author that I find little to sympathize with in this genre. I found the main character well written, particularly as a female protagonist written from a male author. And the villain was complex and creepy too. However when he would flip from monster to victim, I had trouble shifting with the main character's sympathy, which is probably a side effect of the intensity of bitterness I felt to his manipulation. The conflict is intense and page-turning at a few chapters.

But here it is less than 24 hours after closing the book and I can't even remember the main character's name. And had I read this book pre-goodreads, it would soon be lost in the dozen or so other books floating around my head with snippets of character and plot without enough definition to remember a title or theme. It just wasn't strong enough to leave a lasting impression, but I'm at a loss to describe exactly what could make it stick. I can't exactly call it a light read with the heavy material, but certainly not anything I expected to gain something from. But for this modern mystery genre it certainly was better than many I have read but it wasn't anything I loved. But if you do like this genre, put this one on your list.

To give a brief synopsis: it's about a profile psychiatrist who works for a state mental facility evaluating patients who avoided trial or imprisonment by reason of insanity. I learned a lot about psychological evaluation from the novel that I found enlightening. This main character (what was her name?!) gets a millionaire patient (Jim I do remember his name) who used his fortune to bribe his way into house arrest where he could practice his cello, his one passion and extreme talent in life. As psychiatrist X evaluates the patient she discovers that not only is he much sicker than he's been given credit for, part of that mental distortion is an obsession with her. She has to figure out a way to get him reincarcerated despite his bribing money and manipulation before he hurts anyone (most in danger is herself and anyone she knows)....less

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