bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
4.0
For the first 100 pages I kept rolling my eyes so hard at the protagonist I almost fell out of bed. He is that dude. The one who drinks absinthe in dive bars, draws pictures of babes he meets at these establishments, drinks more absinthe at home, broods. Thankfully, things fall into place and the absinthe drinking and brooding start making sense. The babe is super mysterious and alluring, San Francisco is foggy and littered with corpses, and Caleb has a nifty toxicology lab where he runs tests on the corpses who have been subjected to lots of pain. It gets pretty intriguing, and the final 100 pages induced no eye-rolling at all. It's a short one, no unnecessary waffling, just good noirish entertainment.
larrydavid's review against another edition
1.0
Stephen King tricked me once again - I love his books, but when it comes to his stamp of approval, he just seems to flail around madly with it, like a sugar-crazed child playing whack-a-mole, smashing it down with desperate randomness. "The most terrifying book since Red Dragon," he called this, but in practice the book has not one scare in it, and not a moment of tension. Partially this is because the writer hasn't created a single character that is either plausible or worth caring about, with even the main character's ex-girlfriend being a beautiful cipher about whom it is impossible to care. A standard beach read serial killer novel where you don't care if anyone dies (and where the victims are, bizarrely, barely present in any meaningful sense) is never going to generate much tension. The main problem though is that the plot is both ludicrous and yet immediately obvious - it is so instantaneously apparent to a reader who has ever read a book like this what is going on that I found myself sitting bored through each chapter, checking off a mental list as each expected moment slotted into place. The treatment of the female characters is quite sexist, and in the mode of the kind of male-gaze, pseudo-poetic noir writing that embodies the worst traits of that genre (which I love, when a good writer is practicing it).
While I picked this book due to Stephen King's recommendation, I wanted to try some of Moore's work as I had loved his book 5 Decembers, written under the pseudonym James Kestrel. That is a much stronger book, though it still has the bad habit of treating women as beautiful ornaments for a man. I doubt I'll read anything this writer does again.
While I picked this book due to Stephen King's recommendation, I wanted to try some of Moore's work as I had loved his book 5 Decembers, written under the pseudonym James Kestrel. That is a much stronger book, though it still has the bad habit of treating women as beautiful ornaments for a man. I doubt I'll read anything this writer does again.
the_sassy_bookworm's review against another edition
5.0
WHOA...this book was SO good! This is the second 5 star book I have read this week. Both coincidentally physiological thrillers.
This one sucked me in from the first page and just never let up! It was so atmospheric with twist and turns and full of mystery and intrigue. I sort of had an inkling as to where it was heading, but WHOA NELLY it was SO much more then I had dreamed up!!
I don't know what more to say, other then READ THIS BOOK NOW!!
Side Note: This book also proves that little 'ol me could never EVER be in forensics. Good gravy, I almost lost my lunch a couple times!!
This one sucked me in from the first page and just never let up! It was so atmospheric with twist and turns and full of mystery and intrigue. I sort of had an inkling as to where it was heading, but WHOA NELLY it was SO much more then I had dreamed up!!
I don't know what more to say, other then READ THIS BOOK NOW!!
Side Note: This book also proves that little 'ol me could never EVER be in forensics. Good gravy, I almost lost my lunch a couple times!!
kimmkoning's review against another edition
5.0
This is a story that will grab your imagination, twist it into something unrecognisable and spit you out wondering whether Wonderland exists and are you Alice or the Mad Hatter.
Jonathan Moore has crafted a tale that is wholly original, spine-tingling and deeply unnerving. On the surface it is a serial murder investigation but in this story, everything that is up is upside down and everything that is on the surface is just a mask.
Dr. Caleb Maddox is the protagonist of The Poison Artist. We meet him at one of his lowest points and as the tale takes him and you, the reader, further into this mad wonderland he sinks lower and lower. The only light at the end of his downward spiral is the mysterious, ethereal and darkly seductive Emmeline. As he falls under her spell in one brief meeting, she disappears and he is obsessed with finding her again. This obsession drives the story and drives Caleb towards the destruction of his truths even as it brings him into the cross hairs of a serial murder investigation.
This is a story that would not let me go. I finished it in one breathless sitting and simultaneously wanted to immediately both push this book away and dive back into the strange world of Dr. Caleb Maddox and the seductive Emmeline. This is one of the most perfectly executed psychological thrillers I have ever read. The characters are exceptionally compelling, so compelling you cannot look away from them even if you truly want to. The setting of San Francisco, mysterious fog- covered San Franscisco, is the perfect setting for this twisted tale of murder and destruction. This is a strange and twisted tale whose surface keeps on changing, always keeping you guessing, never knowing what is the truth and what is the lie.
*****
I give The Poison Artist a perfect 5/5 stars. If you want a psychological thriller that will, in equal parts, both disturb you and seduce you, then read The Poison Artist.
[I would like to thank Netgalley, the publisher and the author for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.]
Jonathan Moore has crafted a tale that is wholly original, spine-tingling and deeply unnerving. On the surface it is a serial murder investigation but in this story, everything that is up is upside down and everything that is on the surface is just a mask.
Dr. Caleb Maddox is the protagonist of The Poison Artist. We meet him at one of his lowest points and as the tale takes him and you, the reader, further into this mad wonderland he sinks lower and lower. The only light at the end of his downward spiral is the mysterious, ethereal and darkly seductive Emmeline. As he falls under her spell in one brief meeting, she disappears and he is obsessed with finding her again. This obsession drives the story and drives Caleb towards the destruction of his truths even as it brings him into the cross hairs of a serial murder investigation.
This is a story that would not let me go. I finished it in one breathless sitting and simultaneously wanted to immediately both push this book away and dive back into the strange world of Dr. Caleb Maddox and the seductive Emmeline. This is one of the most perfectly executed psychological thrillers I have ever read. The characters are exceptionally compelling, so compelling you cannot look away from them even if you truly want to. The setting of San Francisco, mysterious fog- covered San Franscisco, is the perfect setting for this twisted tale of murder and destruction. This is a strange and twisted tale whose surface keeps on changing, always keeping you guessing, never knowing what is the truth and what is the lie.
*****
I give The Poison Artist a perfect 5/5 stars. If you want a psychological thriller that will, in equal parts, both disturb you and seduce you, then read The Poison Artist.
[I would like to thank Netgalley, the publisher and the author for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.]
mpr2000's review against another edition
4.0
Everything started with a fight, a fight between Caleb and Bridget. We don't know why, just that they broke up... After the fight Caleb decides to spend the night in a hotel and go for a drink... That's how he meets Emmeline, a mysterious woman, whom he falls immediately in love with... the start of the end... He will have to search for this mysterious woman while he tries to understand the mysterious bodies that are appearing at the bay... Which is the connection between all of them? Caleb will have to solve this puzzle before being too much fascinated in the other world...
Have you tried absinthe?
Ii is a green drink that was forbidden for a long time, it seems that after you drank it, you have some hallucinations. This is what you feel when you start reading this book, you enter in a world where everything is obscure, but that you need more...
This is Caleb's story, a dark, gripping and addictive life that will leave no one untouched.
In the Poison Artist there's nothing that is what it seems, but everything has a meaning... would it be enough for Caleb to know the truth?
Ready to try a "Berthe de Joux"?
Have you tried absinthe?
Ii is a green drink that was forbidden for a long time, it seems that after you drank it, you have some hallucinations. This is what you feel when you start reading this book, you enter in a world where everything is obscure, but that you need more...
This is Caleb's story, a dark, gripping and addictive life that will leave no one untouched.
In the Poison Artist there's nothing that is what it seems, but everything has a meaning... would it be enough for Caleb to know the truth?
Ready to try a "Berthe de Joux"?
melissakuzma's review against another edition
3.0
When I read that Stephen King said this was the most terrifying thing he's read since Red Dragon, I HAD to have it. I don't think I'd go that far, but it was creepy and entertaining. I wish there was just something MORE to it. It felt a little thin.
toriera's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
emmareads77books's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
3.5