Trauma

A genuine psychological thriller by an uncommon storyteller [with a] trademark ability to probe the layers of the human psyche (San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle), Trauma is also McGrath's most addictive and enthralling novel yet.

Review :
"A haunting story of a man in the grip of a painful and beautifully articulated spiritual malaise." --"Publishers Weekly" "The inversion of roles, the blurring of the boundaries between the rational and the irrational, the violence, the twisted sexual passions, the slipperiness of memory: these are familiar themes in McGrath's fiction. Here they are recombined in powerful and imaginative ways. "Trauma" is a gripping psychological thriller. McGrath's prose is taut and lean; his way with characters is deft; and his explorations of the dark side of human nature are disturbing. And at the novel's centre, the descent of its narrator from a false sense of superiority into a pit of madness and despair is handled with great skill." -Andrew Scull, "The Times Literary Supplement " "Full of sensitive, well-observed touches [and] elegant when it needs to be...In "Trauma," McGrath makes us see that our own minds are the most haunted of houses." -Stephanie Zacharek, "Los Angeles Times " "That hypnotic, reasonable and wistful voice of Dr. Charles Weir, psychiatrist, had me utterly in thrall...Beautifully crafted and paced, "Trauma" can be viewed as either a superb psychological thriller or as a masterly evocation of modern alienation and despair...[It] is, in short, a terrific literary entertainment, one that will keep you on edge, worried and guessing." -Michael Dirda, "The Washington Post" "Tortuous, often gripping...The novel is aptly titled, since trauma can be said to be the origin and the end of its insidiously uncoiling developments." --Sven Birkerts, "The New York Times Book Review" ""Trauma" is Patrick McGrath at his dark-hearted best. Read one page-one sentence-and you'll be hooked by this elegant psychological thriller set in the gritty, pre-gentrification Manhattan of the1970s..."Trauma" reminds you of how satisfying it is to be unable to put a book down-and then, when it's over, to be sorry and relieved to enter your own comparatively unhaunted life." --Francine Prose, "O, The Oprah Magazine" "A haunting story of a man in the grip of a painful and beautifully articulated spiritual malaise." --"Publishers Weekly" "Full of sensitive, well-observed touches [and] elegant when it needs to be...In "Trauma," McGrath makes us see that our own minds are the most haunted of houses." -Stephanie Zacharek, "Los Angeles Times " "That hypnotic, reasonable and wistful voice of Dr. Charles Weir, psychiatrist, had me utterly in thrall...Beautifully crafted and paced, "Trauma" can be viewed as either a superb psychological thriller or as a masterly evocation of modern alienation and despair...[It] is, in short, a terrific literary entertainment, one that will keep you on edge, worried and guessing." -Michael Dirda, "The Washington Post" "Tortuous, often gripping...The novel is aptly titled, since trauma can be said to be the origin and the end of its insidiously uncoiling developments." --Sven Birkerts, "The New York Times Book Review" ""Trauma" is Patrick McGrath at his dark-hearted best. Read one page-one sentence-and you'll be hooked by this elegant psychological thriller set in the gritty, pre-gentrification Manhattan of the 1970s..."Trauma" reminds you of how satisfying it is to be unable to put a book down-and then, when it's over, to be sorry and relieved to enter your own comparatively unhaunted life." --Francine Prose, "O, The Oprah Magazine" "A haunting story of a man in the grip of a painful and beautifully articulated spiritual malaise." --"Publishers Weekly" "Tortuous, often gripping...The novel is aptly titled, since trauma can be said to be the origin and the end of its insidiously uncoiling developments." --Sven Birkerts, "The New York Times Book Review" ""Trauma" is Patrick McGrath at his dark-hearted best. Read one page-one sentence-and you'll be hooked by this elegant psychological thriller set in the gritty, pre-gentrification Manhattan of the 1970s..."Trauma" reminds you of how satisfying it is to be unable to put a book down-and then, when it's over, to be sorry and relieved to enter your own comparatively unhaunted life." --Francine Prose, "O, The Oprah Magazine" "A haunting story of a man in the grip of a painful and beautifully articulated spiritual malaise." --"Publishers Weekly" ""Trauma" is Patrick McGrath at his dark-hearted best. Read one page-one sentence-and you'll be hooked by this elegant psychological thriller set in the gritty, pre-gentrification Manhattan of the 1970s..."Trauma" reminds you of how satisfying it is to be unable to put a book down-and then, when it's over, to be sorry and relieved to enter your own comparatively unhaunted life." --Francine Prose, "O, The Oprah Magazine" "A haunting story of a man in the grip of a painful and beautifully articulated spiritual malaise." --"Publishers Weekly"