The Madman's Tale

The truth is i have finish my reading since the Raya holiday. I just cant find the time to type this and update it to bloggy-woggy. Today is the day i guess.

So, I present to you,

The Madman’s Tale by John Katzenbach

Two of the patients, Francis Petrel and Peter the Fireman, help a driven prosecutor, Lucy Jones, to unmask the identity of a sadistic killer, The Angle

Although the group of three person had so many proof that the was a killer living free in the madhouse, the administration of the hospital still did not want to take any action.

Peter was in the hospital although he was not mad. He was there because he was undergoing a mental assessment regarding his involvement as the arsonist who set a church on fire causing a priest killed and several others injured. He became Francis's best friend.

The prosecutor’s had her own motivation. She was raped when she was still in law school and that brought her there. She was looking for a serial killer that raped his victim and cut off her finger. There was a day where she received a box on her desk. The content of the box was the cut off fingers. The killer in the madhouse had the same MO, victimilogy, and signature as the one she looked for. She was determined to catch the killer.

The hospital administration and police prefer to accept the obvious theory that a blood-covered manic patient was responsible.

Lucy, Francis and Peter battle looming deadlines to solve the case or get out, although in Francis’ case there is no escape. He’s delusional and hears voices, but otherwise is an intelligent and sensitive young man. It was easy for both Lucy and Peter since they can get out of the madhouse, away from the Angle, but as for Francis, he was trapped there. Unable to get out or escape from the Angle who was eyeing him since he had intrude the Angle's comfort zone.

He can sense the killer more quickly than the others because of his special insight as a patient and his ability to notice unusual things in an environment where unusual is expected.

Francis develops the theory that the killer was sane; that the mental hospital provides a perfect cover for him to remain undetected. He also concluded the killer is likely to pretend he’s dumb, catatonic or retarded to further avoid detection.

Lucy was told by her boss on Friday to give up the case and return to work on Monday. Peter is about to be shipped out to another hospital, leaving Francis in mortal fear. Francis was terrified of the Angle. He was once had a close encounter with the Angle. The Angle pointed a knife on his cheek and force him to close hid eyes so that he can't recognize him. The Angle did that just because he wanted to proof to Francis that he did no afraid of him and if he wanted to, he can kill him anytime he want.

They hatched a final plan to draw out the man who’s been tormenting him. Lucy changed her appearance to match that of all the other victims and set herself up in a dangerous, solitary position on the night shift as bait to lure the psychopath.

Appropriate precautions are made, but these fail and Lucy looked into the face of death. Francis saved the day by raising an alarm and then sets off with Peter in pursuit of the killer.

As for the rest of the story, i'll leave it to you to read. Seriously, i was enchanted to the book. I can't quit reading it. I even went to the library again and again just to renew the book. This book is more interesting than Old City Hall, in my opinion...