Risk Factor (Hardcover)

by Dr. Charles Atkins (Author) "The psychiatric emergency room of Boston's Commonwealth Hospital buzzed around me..." (more)
Key Phrases: bloody nurse, bloody breast, Billy Keene, Lieutenant Harris, Garret Jacobs (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Following his assured debut in The Portrait, Atkins presents another gripping psychological thriller, this one dealing with a subject common in newspaper headlines: adolescent killers. If crimes committed by teens are on the rise, how do authorities account for the increase and identify the risk factors? Dr. Molly Katz, 39-year-old single mother of two and resident physician on the psychiatric ward of Boston Commonwealth Hospital, is at her wits' end with her caseload and unanswered questions. When a nurse is found stabbed to death on the adolescent ward, Katz has few answers and plenty of guilt. Garret Jacobs, the 15-year-old suspect, is one of her patients, although he'd shown no violent tendencies. The mystery darkens when another nurse is murdered while Garret is in a catatonic state. Katz and her colleagues and superiors discuss issues concerning kids and violence: when does "uncontrolled emotion" become "evil," and how do children grow up to be killers? Meanwhile, Katz is grateful for her two successful, well-adjusted teen children, Josh and Megan, who are soon imperiled as the killer remains on the loose. Atkins, a practicing psychiatrist and Yale faculty member, writes like the authority he is, and handles his female protagonist's "mom" voice with casual ease. He also slows down his plot considerably with long, if fascinating, explanations of psychiatric procedure, diagnostic prophesy and laments over the ineffective health insurance system. Provocative theories abound, including a particularly disturbing suggestion of a new evolutionary strain. But the chilling ending provides a shock that's more visceral than theoretical, which should satiate those who like their social psychology lesson laced with a measure of sinister suspense. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-Just what causes one child to develop into a remorseless killer while another grows to normal adulthood? Is it a matter of nurturance, or something gone awry in the genetic makeup, or a combination of both factors? These questions are at the core of this compelling story. Dr. Molly Katz is a third-year psychiatric resident at a large Boston hospital. The news that one of her teen patients, Garrett, admitted with full-blown psychosis less than a week earlier, has butchered one of the staff nurses causes her to question her own and her profession's competencies. Readers follow her as she meets with her patients: an obsessive-compulsive who finds coming in for treatment a trial by fire; angry Jennifer, who lashes out at her mother with her fists; and threatening Billy, who assaults his mother in the emergency room and may have been sexually abusing his younger sisters. Then another nurse from the ward is murdered. Already hospitalized, Garrett could not have been responsible, so who is stalking the staff nurses? The surprise identification of the killer brings about Molly's own trial by fire. As she recovers, the original nature versus nurture question returns to her, leading her to pursue her career along a different path. Young adults should find this a fast-paced, interesting read and they're sure to be fascinated by the symptomatology and care of the teenaged psychiatric patients.
Carol DeAngelo, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (October 13, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312209207
• ISBN-13: 978-0312209209
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,526,388 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite a read - thrilling, yet refreshing!, October 1, 1999

By A Customer

Like so many of us today, and especially those of us who have children, we become numb by media reports of youth violence. Although we strive to understand its' ramifications, we become overwhelmed, and at some point many of us tune out. Albeit a novel, RISK FACTOR explores the concept of nature vs. nurture further exploring why children turn to violence. It was refreshing for me to be able to enjoy myself throughout this read (it's quite thrilling and scary), while gaining a better understanding of this ugly phenomenon without media opinion and hype. Last, I felt restored; although Molly is a fictional character, I know that there are Molly's in this world - people who care about children.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sad, scary kids ratchet up the suspense, July 27, 2007

By	Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Against the noisy, violent frenzy of emergency room psychiatric admissions, Atkins' second psychological/medical thriller explores the world of children who kill.

The book begins with the murder of a nurse on the juvenile psychiatric inpatient ward. A previously gentle schizophrenic boy has gone catatonic beside the body, bloody knife clutched in his hand. His assigned doctor, Molly Katz, a senior psychiatric resident, former nurse and single mother of two, struggles to understand, going so far as to get a night job at the prison hospital where the boy has been transferred.

Although the writing is sometimes clunky, Atkins knows his dangerous kids. Confrontations with angry, unpredictable children who recognize absolutely no authority and respond to no threat or incentive, ratchet up the tension more than any number of murders. Are they born or made?

Atkins does his best to build to an explosive climax but for most readers it's the hospital atmosphere and the ever-present buzz of background violence that will claim their attention.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Risk Factor, February 6, 2000

By	Books of Ruth "Educator" (Nebraska) - See all my reviews

I purchased this book after reading a review of it in our Sunday paper. Being a teacher, I was interested in how it described troubled children, and the "making" of troubled children, from a psychiatrist's point of view. The book was all I hoped for, and more. Besides gaining insightful, factual information, I was thoroughly absorbed in the plot as it unfolded. I, too, could not put this down when I neared the end. Now I am looking forward to reading his first book, "The Portrait."