The Analyst

A mesmerizing race-against-the-clock thriller that gives a wicked new twist to the doctor-patient relationship.

'Tautly paced with impeccable timing...vivid prose and expert plotting'

'This masterfully told thriller is impossible to put down and equally impossible to forget'

'A thriller that starts at a gallop and then gets even faster...even if you're not a regular thriller reader, give The Analyst a try. Be warned however, it is seriously addictive stuff'

'An unconventional and beautifully constructed thriller that constantly engages and surprises'

John Katzenbach is the author of nine novels: the Edgar Award-nominated In the Heat of the Summer and The Shadow Man, The Traveller, Day of Reckoning, Just Cause, State of Mind, Hart's War, The Analyst and The Madman's Tale. He has been a criminal court reporter for The Miami Herald and Miami News. He lives in western Massachusetts.

'Happy fifty-third birthday, Doctor. Welcome to the first day of your death. You ruined my life. And now I fully intend to ruin yours. 
 
'You have exactly one fortnight, starting tomorrow morning at 6 a.m., to discover who I am. When you succeed you must purchase one of those tiny ads at the bottom of the New York Times front page, and print my name there. 
 
'If you do not succeed, then . . . you will take note that the second sheet of this letter contains the names of fifty-two of your relatives. If you are unable to purchase the ad as described, then you will have this choice: kill yourself immediately or I will destroy one of these innocent people.' 
 
Until the moment he opens the letter, New York psychologist Dr Frederick Starks has led a quiet and, so he believes, blameless life. He has no idea why he's being judged by this unknown tormentor a former patient - who then lethally begins to demonstrate the potential of his, or her, threats. As the layers of Starks's carefully constructed life are stripped from him, he quickly finds himself a powerless pawn in a psychopath's devious game of vengeance.

John Katzenbach

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

'Beautifully written, thoroughly engrossing thriller'

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

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

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...

John Katzenbach

Praise for The Madman's Tale

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

'Beautifully written, thoroughly engrossing thriller'

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

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

'Beautifully written, thoroughly engrossing thriller'

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

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

'Beautifully written, thoroughly engrossing thriller'

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

Books by John Katzenbach

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