portrait

Title: The Portrait

Author: Charles Atkins

Date Finished: October 27, 2011

Personal Book Count: 39 out of 75

Rating: 3 out of 5

Genre/ Subject: fiction

First Line: I took my pills, two of them.

Why did I pick this book?: I wanted something a little scary/edge of my seat for halloween.

Summary and Review: taken from the author's website-

'Soho artist Chad Greene is having a bad week. Just home from the hospital his dog is shot, his loft is ransacked, and his psychiatrist is murdered. His manic depression is heating up--okay, maybe he shouldn't have stopped his lithium--and the boundaries between reality and psychosis have blurred. As for the police, they look at Chad, and they see a murderer.

On the plus side, his agent couldn't be happier. His paintings are selling better than Starbucks coffee, and the publicity that swirls around the young artist is propelling him to break-through heights.

But Chad is running out of time. Hunted by a killer who shares secrets from his past, pursued by the police and hounded by his own insanity, he struggles to make sense of the chaos that has overrun his life. He sees no way out, and to find the answers he must risk all and plunge into a world of total madness.'

I think 3 out of 5 may be high for this one. This was not the read I had hoped for. Some of the time it wasn't even interesting, let alone scary. I did keep reading, because I had it find out if he was crazy or not. There were many parts that were predictable, even if the ending was not one that you could have seen coming. Now the parts I liked. I did like seeing the world through the eyes of the character when he was on and off his meds. And the ending (climax to finish) was strong and interesting. I recently had a conversation with a writer friend, who looked at me and simply said “make it worse”. This is something Atkins did well I thought, in completely destroying the main character's life in the first few sections of the book. Will I read another by this author? Probably not. If you are at the library, and happen to see it, read the first few pages, and see if it grabs you, maybe it was just me. But I wouldn't go hunting for it.

Agree? Disagree? Recommendations? Any insights, suggestions, or comments on the book or format, or blog at all are most welcome. If you have read this and/ or review it yourself, please let me know. Can you think of any books like this? Give me a recommendation! =D