Customer Reviews

Psych: A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Read

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It helps a mystery novelization if the person writing it has actually written mystery scripts for the series.

In the case of William Rabkin, he's not only penned an episode for "Psych," but also episodes for "Monk," "Diagnosis Murder" and "Nero Wolfe." That said, "Psych: A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Read" is a fun if imperfect little read -- it preserves the wacky, mildly lawless flavour of the TV series, but one of the subplots overstretches credibility.

After Shawn publicly saves a wealthy widow in court, he and Gus earn the wrath of the hate-spewing district attorney, Coules. He takes his revenge by having Gus's car impounded -- and when the boys try to get it back, Shawn's observations prompt the attendant to start shooting. Then poor Gus gets hit with a Mercedes, driven by a sexy, obviously-insane woman named Tara.

Things have not improved when he wakes up: the attendant has been found dead, and Tara has vowed to serve Shawn in all things, because she says he's beaming commands into her head. As the final dose of weirdness, their megamogul ex-classmate Dallas Steele gets back in touch, and reveals that he wants Shawn to invest a bunch of money for him.

Unfortunately Shawn and Gus are quickly implicated in the murders (thanks to Coules) and Dallas reveals a bizarre revenge scheme to publicly discredit Shawn. Worst of all, it turns out that Tara won't hesitate to beat or taser those she thinks Shawn is upset with (including Shawn's dad). And when another body crops up, Shawn must prove that he had nothing to do with it... or else.

"Psych: A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Read" basically reads like an overlong episode of the TV series, complete with a "little Shawn and Gus" flashback, verbal sparring with Lassiter and some lectures from Henry (who has taken up scrapbooking). All it's missing is the obligatory pineapple cameo -- come on, where is Shawn's favorite spiky citrus?

And Rabkin correctly captures the wacky tone of the series, from Shawn's disguises ("Since there was only one cassock, and Gus refused to wear the matching nun's habit") to his theatrical crime-solving methods and bantering dialogue ("You're a medium?" "I used to be, but I think I've put on a few pounds"). Not easy to take that from screen to novel.

And he spins up a series of enjoyably interconnected murders, where it's never quite clear who did what muder and why. The biggest problem is that the whole Dallas Steele subplot is forced. Very forced. Despite Rabkin's best efforts, Steele's vendetta and the subsequent press conference seem far too cartoonish.

Fortunately he does a fair job capturing the personalities of wild, charming Shawn and down-to-earth, steadfast Gus, as well as Lassiter and Henry (who gets tasered). Rabkin misses the mark with a few -- Coules is a 2-D baddie whose vendetta against Shawn gets tiring, Juliet spends the whole book sulking, and Tara is lovingly described as a supersexy, utterly deranged woman who tends to break necks.

"Psych: A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste" has some flaws, but it's still a fun light read that maintains the flavour of the TV series. Here's hoping that Rabkin's next "Psych" novel hits a higher mark.

I love Psych. I love the show and I love the novel series. However, "A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Read" is awful. The characters are bitter, hostile, and self-serving. They are nothing like they are in the rest of the books or TV series.

It's no secret Shawn takes advantage of and exploits people, but he does draw the line between self-amusement and just plain malice. In the book his exploitation of others goes a little too far to the point it is just untrue to the series.

Juliet was the worst. In the show, she is always nice and bubbly. She is the center of Shawn's love interest. But in this book it is like they are enemies. She is bitter and resentful, and even takes pleasure in seeing Shawn fail. Nothing fits to hold true to the series, and as a Psych fan it is a completely depressing read.

I'm a fan of the tv show and enjoyed the book. The author captures the great relationship between Shawn and Gus with witty dialogue that we all know and love from the show. However, their actions seem just a little bit off--being slightly more rebellious/illegal than I would expect from them! I was disappointed that I didn't remember reading about any pineapples (but maybe I missed it--let me know). Also, I felt the show's other characters don't get as much attention or are as accurate representations.

Still, it's a fun read--especially for the last 80 pages or so. Those read more like how you would expect an episode to go.

Definitely recommended for fans of Psych. I'd suggest to save it for the hiatus periods though as you'll appreciate it more for feeding your need for more Psych.

Well worth the seven bucks. I'll buy the next one.

It was a blast to read , no dead spots, it just kept going from the
beginning to the end. Nice visual book -- it read like watching a TV show, (for some reason). And even though it was comedy it was complicated -- it had more twists and turns than any mystery I've ever read.

I haven't watched the TV show, so I was a little concerned that I'd be lost for awhile. Not even close. The three page prologue set it up perfectly and I was off and running right from the beginning.

The premise is fresh and the characters are fun. Well done.

This is, I believe the first, in a series of books based on the Psych television show. While I've yet to read the others I hope they will raise the bar a bit on this one. Let me say that the story, though a bit overarching, is relatively fun with the requisite twists and turns one expects from a mystery and from a Psych episode. William Rabkin does a great job catching the essence and dialogue of the television characters and as I read the book my brain just filled in the voices from the show. In that way the writing was very good...a likely benefit of the author having written episodes for the show as well. What I found disappointing was being out of the loop on the mystery the whole time. In an episode of Psych, Shawn enters a room and we see what he sees (couch out of position, the crooked picture frame, the still sweating glass of water in the sink, etc.). It's these little things that allow us to see what Shawn sees and note the important elements in a scene. That aspect was missing from the book (which while mostly told in the third person, followed Gus more than anyone else). It felt like we were reacting to Shawn simply saying ludicrous things without the benefit of seeing where he was coming from...almost like being a character in Shawn's world instead of, ideally, a little more omnipotent, such as one is when watching the series. It felt like the reader had to simply hear what Shawn had to say and nothing more...like Lassiter or Vick often do...and then stare dumbfoundedly at the page because there was no deeper explanation.
Overall I enjoyed an opportunity to delve a little deeper in to the Psych world but in my opinion mysteries are more fun when you can solve them yourself. To do so you have to be given some amount of information that's important to the plot or allows you to put it all together. I thought this was lacking, though it's easy enough to figure out some things you're told are important they still don't mean anything until Shawn sums it up at the end. This was really more of a novel where the reader is told about someone solving a crime more so than a novel in which a reader could be expected to put any of the clues together and solve it themselves before the characters do so themselves. Anyway, as I said, I enjoyed the read but it just felt lacking as far as a good mystery goes.

Psych is my favorite show currently on TV (and my 3rd favorite all-time), so I was greatly excited for this novel. My dissapointment in it was just a great. Perhaps what makes the show so great does not translate well onto the written page, or more likely, the author just needed more practice at it. Thankfully, this is one of the two worst books in the series so far - they do get better!

I love watching Psych and was a little leary of this book because of some of the reviews. I just finished it last night and I was very happy with it. As I was reading, I could picture James Roday and Dule Hill saying the lines which made it even better. I laughed out loud so many times I lost count. I can't wait to read the next one. Good job William Rabkin! Keep them coming!

It was agreat book yet it made shawn seem more like a jerk than he is. But i love the ending where they make Gus the hero not shawn it was a great book because of the twist and turns it takes and the writer nailed the characters dead on except like i said shawn... Thanks for reading my review

Excellent. Told mostly from Gus' point of view, it was funny, even hilarious in places. Sometimes, I laughed out loud, it was that good. The mystery was intriguing, one of the best that I've read in a long time. Both Gus and Shawn were true to their TV selves - Gus was frantic most of the time, Shawn on the other hand was laid back to the point of acting like an airhead from time to time, but never missing a thing. The only thing that I didn't like much was the revelation of the murderer itself, that felt overdone - too much craziness is just too much sometimes.

I love the show, so I couldn't wait to start reading this first "Psych" book! Honestly, it started out a little slow for me, but as it went on, I began to enjoy it more. It captures the feel of the show well, with a good plot and the awesome humor I expect. I'd recommend it to any "Psych" fan!