I recently finished reading an ARC of Pyschopathic by Jason Melby. This book comes out on January 10, 2025. It’s about Faith Galloway, a blind psychiatrist. Don’t worry. The book isn’t as crazy as the title or the book cover implies. While I would consider this book suspenseful and a little creepy at times, the cover makes it look like more of a horror novel than it was in reality.
Things You Should Know
Several years ago, Faith was involved in a serious skydiving ancient, which left her blind. Her inability to see those around her makes her a bit nervous when she feels someone following her. After learning one of her previous patients has escaped from a mental health facility, she’s convinced he’s out to get her.
This book is a crazy ride. Let’s just say that no one is who they appear to be on the surface. Just about everyone has something they’re trying to hide.
My Issues With the Book
This book had a few places where I was a bit confused about the chronological order of events. It might have just been me, but I felt like some of the dates didn’t quite match up. Maybe, I just need to go back and reread parts to figure out the chronology of the story.
Reader Warnings
There is some swearing in this book, including a few “f-bombs.” It’s not in every chapter, but the swearing is fairly regular. The swearing definitely could have been toned down.
When it comes to sexual content, there are two characters who have engaged in previous sex crimes. You just know that they’ve happened. They are not described in detail. In both cases, they attempt to engage in another sex crime, but their efforts are thwarted. There are also some characters who engage in casual sex. It’s also not described in detail, but you know what happened. The first characters who do this seemed to have loose morals anyway, so it wasn’t surprising. With the second duo, they were pretty much the only characters I liked up to that point, so it kind of ruined it for me. Some readers won’t be bothered by the casual sex, but I would have enjoyed the book better without it.
When it comes to violence, most of the violence is behind the scenes or only described in minor detail. Toward the end of the book, it gets a bit more graphic. It’s still not super graphic, but if you get queasy easily, you may want to skim most of the final about 10% of the book.
Some topics that might be difficult for readers include PTSD, violent impulses, rape, stalking, death, mental illness, and questionable medical practices. Because Faith is blind, someone in the story messes with her quite a bit, hiding things or moving them around.
SPOILER ALERT
(Specifically for Dog Lovers)
Skip this paragraph if you don’t like any sort of spoilers. If, like me, you don’t like books with dogs dying, I’ll let you know now that while the dog is seriously injured, he does survive. I generally hate spoilers and rarely read ahead, but I really didn’t want to finish the book if the dog died. I was reading the book on my Kindle. After the dog was seriously injured, I searched the book for the dog’s name to see if it survived. I was only able to relax once I realized the dog survived.
Would I Recommend?
The plot is great. It drew me in right away. I want to know what happened and what will happen. This had the potential to be a really great book. I love how Faith is a strong character even though she’s blind. At times, she reminded me of Audrey Hepburn’s character in “Wait Until Dark.” She’s a strong character who’s not going to allow her disability to stop her.
Unfortunately, the language, the unnecessary (although not graphic) sexual content, and some of the more graphic violence toward the end of this book made it not as great as it could have been. If this came in an edited version, I’d definitely recommend reading it. There were some unexpected twists, turns, and revelations. As it is, if you aren’t bothered by the “f-bomb” or characters having casual sex, you’ll probably enjoy this book. If not, I’d suggest passing on it.
