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The Madman's Tale

By: John Katzenbach
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Corgi Books
ISBN: 0552151068
ISBN-13: 9780552151061
Released: 02 May 2005
RRP: £6.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Thoroughly enjoyed this book - By: Spain Crazy, 03 Feb 2006
This was the second John Katzenbach book that I have read (the other being quite a few years ago). Thoroughly enjoyed it! Gripping reading & a totallly unusual plot. Difficult to put down.
And thats it? - By: P. Gill, 23 Dec 2005
I recently read & thoroughly enjoyed the analyst so naturallly bought this book expecting the same. Sadly its a guge disappointment. The story is told in retrospect by a former patient of a mental institution. The plot is essentiallly about a killer inside a hospital for the mentallly ill & the main charcters attemptto discover who the killer is.

The book promises much and, initiallly at least, crackles along. However, the whole story becomes boring after about the middle pages & the ending is the most disappointing that I have ever read. All I could think of was, is that it? & you will too.

Overlong and a lazy conclusion - By: Mr. D. Maguire, 09 Aug 2005
This book had a great idea for a plot, & is littered with possible suspects, but the writer must've got bored, & decided "To hell with a great twist at the end, I think I'll go down the pub" And the similarites between characters in this & the film, One flew Over the Cuckoo's nest become embarrassing. And at nearly 700 pages,This book is a waste of time, case closed!
a gripping tale you cannot put down until the end - By: Katrina Falconer, 26 Jul 2005
What would you do if you were a patient in a mental institution where somebody is methodicallly killing people, no one will believe you & you know that you will be the next victim?

Francis Petrel (aka C-bird) is only 21 & has been placed into the institution by his family for being unstable. There he meets some characters whom become very close friends to C-bird even though the outside world may class them as 'loony', however, as the tale unfolds we grow to sympathise & care for them.

A killer is very clever & he knows it. How can Francis & his friends find the killer before he keeps on killing? Who will believe that this is actuallly happening? Francis gives his account of what happened during his time at the hospital & the outcome of the murders.

This story is unnerving, it is gripping & unputdownable. We love Francis, we are rooting for him & we hope that he survives. The characters grow on you & you become attached to them.

I now must buy some more of the authors books because The Madmans Tale is such a great read. I had never heard of the author before but I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. If you like a thriller that keeps you turning the pages then this is the book for you.

And it just goes to show that just because you've been labelled crazy doesn't mean you are.

You keep expecting more... - By: , 01 Jul 2005
The Madman's Tale is well constructed & well written, but if you are used to reading thrillers that have strange plot twists & surprise endings, then this book will disappoint.

All through reading it I kept looking for hidden messages - clues to the story within the story. But it turned out there was no hidden story, there was no surprise ending, there was no clever mystery. What you read is what you get.

As long as you know that going in, you can enjoy a well written story for what it is - unlike me who just kept waiting for the big "reveal" behind every metaphorical secret door. Because I had this expectation that there MUST be MORE, I found the ending terribly anti-climatic... there'd been such a big build up to some secret mystery that never materialised.