Title: PsychoAnalysis
Author: V.R. Stone
Publisher: Silverwhite Press
Pub Date: October 14, 2016
Format: Kindle eBook
Pages: 312
Source: NetGalley
Genre(s): Psychological Thriller, Adult
Rating: ★★★★
Goodreads || Buy on Amazon

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Synopsis from Goodreads:

A serial killer who wants to quit. A detective struggling to keep his personal life out of a murder hunt. And a celebrity psychiatrist facing an incredible challenge. Three damaged individuals, linked by their traumatic histories. They’ve chosen very different paths. Now those paths are about to cross.

Sarah Silver is a hedge fund manager – from Monday to Friday she makes a killing in the markets. At weekends, though, she hunts men, not profits. Martin White used to be a brilliant detective. But his family, judgement and self-control are deserting him. And Karl Gross has sold millions of books on serial killers. However he’s a controversial figure in the medical community.

Can Martin keep it together and catch a killer who commits almost perfect crimes? Is Karl capable of unravelling Sarah’s psyche and putting an end to the killing? Or will she disappear when she realises that the hunter has become the hunted?

PsychoAnalysis is a psychological crime thriller that explores the grey area between good and evil. Why would a woman kill for fun? Can she be understood? Can she be stopped?

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My review:

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This does not alter my opinion of the work.

The cover is fantastic. The premise is promising. The execution was passable.

As soon as I saw the cover, title, and synopsis of this book, I knew that I had to read it. My inner-psych major was jumping up and down, eager to dissect this story piece by piece. PsychoAnalysis is a combination of two of my favourite things–books and Psychopathy–so I’m sure you can understand my excitement.

In any case, I will not be indulging you in any plot details because you should really go into a thriller blind if you want the story to actually thrill you. But that ending! It annoyed me. The “relationship” was just not believable to me. Simply convenient. And the characters, I just did not care for so much.

If you were to ask Dr. House (yes, the one from television) to solve a criminal investigation, I feel like the end result would be Martin White. He would present us with his charming jazz music, unorthodox methods of finding out information, limping and moping around, paranoia, skepticism of humanity in general, and recreational drug abuse. Except it wasn’t as charming in Martin’s case. And don’t even get me started on Dr. Karl Gross. He seems even more skeevy than the fraud that is America’s famed T.V. “psychiatrist” (Dr. Phil), so he was just downright irksome. I had very high hopes for our female serial killer because let’s face it, how often do you get to read about one of those? There was just so much potential, but I felt let down by her as well. I feel like I still didn’t really get to know her. Or did I expect too much? Either way, I believe there is more to her story.

Overall, I honestly think the bones of this book are good. It’s just the metaphorical fat and tissue and blood surrounding those bones that failed to impress me.

I’m giving this a 3.5 stars because I did enjoy myself for the most part. I believe my expectations were just a bit too high. And I really think that this story would play out amazingly on a screen. That would be something to see.