Customer Reviews

The Interview Room

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Author Roderick Anscombe details in this book the battles, psychological and literal, between Paul Lucas, a forensic psychiatrist, and Craig Cavanaugh, a twenty-two-year-old, dangerously intelligent sociopath-psychopath, who is heir to a politically powerful financial empire. Paul's assignment is to evaluate and make recommendations to the court about treatment or imprisonment for Craig's terrifying stalking and harassing of a woman. Anscombe writes of the slow degeneration of the therapeutic relationship as Craig sets out to destroy Paul, manipulating Paul's colleagues, family, and wife into joining in this destruction. Paul's weaknesses and vulnerabilities, heightened by the death of his young son, his suspicions about his wife's behaviour, his desire for a research grant, and his failure to follow basic, self-protective, sound therapeutic protocols when dealing with such a patient are described in painful, tedious, misstep-by-misstep fashion. Anscombe, a forensic psychiatrist and assistant clinical professor at Harvard Medical School, knows the traps of ego, counter-transference, and desire to win that can befall therapists, even those at the top of their game, and subjects Paul to most of them, in slow-torture, drip-by-drip fashion, until the unclear ending.

No doubt all of us can be fooled or bested by con artists and psychopaths at times, and it is easy to see how Paul falls into Craig's traps. What is not so easy to see is why Paul doesn't pull out of the assignment when he is pressured before he begins as to what he should recommend. Or why Craig's behaviors during the first interview, red flags for an alert therapist (insisting on touching the therapist, refusing to accept the patient role, casting himself as an equal in the assessment process, almost provoking a physical confrontation, forcing Paul to dance to his tune), don't cause Paul to change his therapeutic stance, recognize his inability to deal with this client at this time, or recommend that Craig be transferred to another psychiatrist. Therapists know that there are times when it is best to back away from treatment of a client. Or if the decision is to accept the patient, then safeguards are usually put in place to protect the therapist, the patient, and the institution. Few if any such safeguards are described here: no meaningful staff meetings, no grand-rounds procedures, no collegial processes to review or talk over progress--not even informal means that most therapists set up with colleagues to reassure themselves that the therapy is on the right track and to discuss possible alternatives. Anscombe keeps the pressure on Paul too intense, the introspection too continuous, the feelings of inevitability too unshakable, the foreshadowing of defeat too inescapable, and the ending too ambiguous for many readers. Unlike Jonathan Kellerman, who writes books about equally evil and manipulative patients, Anscombe seldom lets up on the negativity or allows his protagonist many victories. After awhile, the reader may decide that so much gloom may not be the best way to relax with a book.

This is a book, however, that many readers will find invaluable. It would be of great help in the training of beginning therapists and in further education of experienced ones. Anscombe's traps set for Paul are typical of therapeutic interactions; and Paul's actions would be grist for the mill for discussions about ethics, proper professional distance, and effectiveness with clients for readers who are in helping professions. Anyone who deals with manipulative people could benefit from recognizing and analyzing Paul's dilemmas. Readers who treasure true writing ability; who delight in spare, elegant prose and realistic dialogue; and who enjoy the works of authors who are masters of their field (psychiatry, in this case) will find a gem here.

Roderick Anscombe's The Interview Room is one of the best, well-written thillers I read in 2006. The book is very original and provocative in portraying the story of a prison psychiatrist whose twisted patient -- a sociopathic stalker -- engages him in a deadly war of wits, and which ultimately leads to a series of circumstances that turn his wife against him and implicate him in murder. In my opinion, The Interview Room will be enjoyed most by thriller lovers who seek rich character portayals, sharp, crisp dialogue and narrative skills and who like their justice subtle. Be aware that if non-stop action is what you're looking for, The Interview Room may not be the book for you. I, for one, am looking forward to reading Anscombe's earlier thriller, Shank, and will be one of the first on line to but his upcoming book, Virgin Lies, which is due out in March.

This is one of the best pyschological thrillers I've read, with one caveat. (I'm sure it helps that the author himself is a forensice psychiatrist.) If you're a fan of Law and Order: Criminal Intent - this book has echoes of it, though of course with greater depth and twists. It starts with a great premise, the psychological manipulations and conversations keep you interested... and then, well then the ending while resolved the way it needs to be.... stretches into the implausible. A scene in a dark basement with guns ablazing, - didn't do merit to the intelligence and imagination of the rest of the book.

Paul Lucas has never had a patient like Craig Cavanaugh. Cool and clever, Craig is a sociopath who wants to believe he's in control. As someone who interviews the criminally insane, it's Paul's job to determine whether Craig is insane... or if love made him do crazy things.

During one of their sessions, Craig starts to recite bits of Paul's personal life. He knows the name of Paul's dead son. He knows the name of Paul's emotionally detached wife. When a murder comes into play, Paul realizes he's in for more than he bargained for. Craig is messing with him.

When I picked up this book, I was expecting something different than what I got. I was expecting something frightening, almost paranormal. But I didn't get the thriller I was expecting. Instead, I got a realistic, insightful look into the makings of a psychotic from an author who is well-versed in the subject matter. The dialogue, in particular, was very good. The conversations between Paul and his patient crackle with life.

However, the few thrills it DID have were often interrupted by Paul's first-person philosophizing. When you're in the heat of the moment, trying to track down a stalker, that last thing you want to read is some metaphor about floorboards. Also, I was hoping for one last big twist, or something to tie everything together nicely in the end. To use a metaphor of my own... I was expecting a bouquet, but I got a rose.

Still, the book in undeniably interesting, and Craig is a compelling character. 3 1/2 stars.

This was a disappointing read and I was happy to see it end.

I give it 2 stars, rather than 1, because the author did succeed at creating an element of suspense that kept the story moving along at a nice pace.

Other than that, though, the characters were flat, the storyline was predictable, and the ending was a quick descent into mediocrity.

THE INTERVIEW ROOM is supposed to be a psychological thriller, but I didn't find it very thrilling.

I found all the characters in this novel to be largely flat and difficult to relate to. In particular, the lead character is more like a philosopher than a real person, constantly over-analyzing one situation after another. He's not very admirable, or even that interesting. His marriage is oddly unpleasant, almost leading the reader to hope for a divorce instead of a reconciliation.

The plot of THE INTERVIEW ROOM is pretty sluggish at the beginning, then moves into hyperdrive in the last third, with too many implausible events happening all at once. The ending is pretty standard, the type of violent showdown I've read in hundreds of other books of this nature.

I do believe Anscombe is a talented writer. Much of the prose in this book was quite strong. But the shortcomings in both plot and characterization make this a difficult book to recommend.

Two stars.

Roderick Anscombe has scribed as deft a psychological thriller as I've read in a long time. The suspense and tension mount with each successive chapter as the protagonist, Dr. Lucas, matches wits with an obsessive and love-struck sociopath who thinks the doctor has done him wrong. Lucas finds himself in a precarious situation as a result of his interactions, and must find a way to escape from his ever-escalating predicament without divulging client/patient information.

This book will have you ripping through the pages to see what happens next, and if Hitchcock were alive today he'd already be filming this superb book.

After reading Shank, I was thrilled to find more books by Roderick Anscombe. My husband has been in prison for 28 years, and Shank was one of the most authentic fiction works I've read about convicts and prison life. The Interview Room, however, wound up being a big disappointment. The descriptions of the grieving parents' emotions and the first interviews were real and gripping. From there on, however, the story deteriorated into a cliche. Unlike Paul, the main character, I had this one figured out before breakfast.

Paul's descent from an arrogant, stick-by-the-rules professional, into a hysterical whatever-it-takes vigilante was uneven and not believable. As other reviewers pointed out, for someone so smart, Paul frequently lapsed into Exceedingly Dense. How could he not know his wife was having an affair, and with whom? She practically tatted a Scarlet Letter on her forehead. And how could he even think of getting cozy with the needy "victim" Natalie? Just so we could have the contrived café scene between them for future plot purposes, i.e., The Incriminating Video?

Finally, although Paul sneers at every other therapist in the book for being unprofessional, he deliberately manipulates the crazy kid to the point of explosion, then realizes, "Uh-oh, well, maybe I need to call the victim and warn her." Duh.

And, of course, Natalie doesn't answer the phone (can't blame her), so wimpy Paul wastes *EIGHT* pages pleading with his wife to borrow her car so he can rescue Natalie...boy, there's some excitement. Why not grab the keys and go, fool, you've got to save the victim you just accidentally set up for a kill. But no, Paul has to plead his own case (groan).

Other gripes: After a big build-up, the motivating Powerful Cavanaugh Patriarch threat fizzled out, as did the interesting hints at a family tie-in to Craig's problems. Craig remained a cardboard nut. And then out of nowhere, we have Kovacs, a cop, shyly assuring a cop killer how to plead so he'll be okay??? Huh?? (Anscombe, of all people, should know how cops feel about cop killers.) The same Kovacs who earlier told the same guy he'd have to arrest him if he committed murder, after explaining to him the three rules about how to commit murder? This cop is nuttier than the kid, and slightly creepier than Natalie The Victim.

In the final showdown scene, I wasn't remotely excited, and in fact got a little impatient with Paul, Craig and Abby's repartee. I had ceased to care about all of the characters by that point, and was at the "Someone please shoot someone so I can finish this book" stage. Guess I'll go re-read Shank.

This book was extremely disappointing. I was wondering how much weaker could Paul get. His wife has an affair, he cries like a baby, he goes home and acts as though nothings has happened. When they finally discuss the affair its like a discussion from the dwilight zone, it made no sense whatsoever and in the end it was never dealt with (which he should have kicked her out of the house since she was with her lover just before he was murdered, but she was ending it, another large hole in the story which, no surprise was never dealt with). Another big irritation was Paul with his constant self-analyzing, he is the flatest protagonist I've ever read about. This book was just ridiculous. Anscombe is definitely no Stephen White. He was all over the place and he never really dealt with any of the issues that started the book, I won't even mention the ending, I mean how many times can you say ridiculous.

I see this is going to be a series so I would suggest a lot less self analyzing by Paul, give Paul a backbone, more dialog and more realistic writing.

This thriller revolves around the life of a psychologist who has recently lost his son. The "bad guy" of the story uses this to infiltrate himself into the Dr's life and cauze huge problems.

While I did not hate this book, I really never got into it. The author has a habit of starting off a chapter in a promising way, then lapses into philosophical debates with his own characters. The result of this, of course, being that any suspense that may have been growing immediately comes to a halt.

I like my thrillers to be straight. No waxing poetic. This book has way too much of it.

You get to a point where you can't care about the storyline cauz it is so entertwined with esoterical questions and views.

Unfortunatley, this book was kind of plain boring.