What do you think?
Rate this book
El artista del veneno
Después de una abrupta ruptura con su novia, el toxicólogo Caleb Maddox tiene un fugaz encuentro con una misteriosa mujer llamada Emmeline. A partir de ese momento, su obsesión será reencontrarse con ella, pero su búsqueda de Emmeline tiene que pasar a un segundo plano cuando Maddox se ve inmerso en la investigación de unos asesinatos en serie. Él es el único que puede dar con la clave oculta en los cuerpos de las víctimas.
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 26, 2016
179 people are currently reading
3109 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Moore
9 books374 followersJonathan Moore is an Edgar Award and Hammett Prize nominated author of six novels.
His third novel, THE POISON ARTIST, was a selection of the BBC Radio 2 Book Club. His novel THE NIGHT MARKET was optioned as a feature film by Amazon Studios and Mandeville Films, and his books have been translated into 12 languages.
Before graduating from law school in New Orleans, he lived in Taiwan for three years, guided whitewater raft trips on the Rio Grande, and worked as an investigator for a criminal defense attorney in Washington, D.C. He has also been an English teacher, a bar owner, a counselor at a wilderness camp for juvenile delinquents, and a textbook writer.
Connect with Jonathan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jonathanmoorefiction.
His third novel, THE POISON ARTIST, was a selection of the BBC Radio 2 Book Club. His novel THE NIGHT MARKET was optioned as a feature film by Amazon Studios and Mandeville Films, and his books have been translated into 12 languages.
Before graduating from law school in New Orleans, he lived in Taiwan for three years, guided whitewater raft trips on the Rio Grande, and worked as an investigator for a criminal defense attorney in Washington, D.C. He has also been an English teacher, a bar owner, a counselor at a wilderness camp for juvenile delinquents, and a textbook writer.
Connect with Jonathan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jonathanmoorefiction.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 540 reviews
July 11, 2019
”She fell into a long series of sobs. He’d once read something that came back to him now. There was a pheromone in women’s tears, a chemical signal held over from some cave of prehistory, meant to be a subtle tug on the men it touched. It would be on her face and on her phone, would get onto her fingers when she wiped her cheeks, so that everything and everyone in contact with her would be brushed with the invisible hue of her loneliness. It would disperse like that, one hand to another, through the city. A single drop of ink spreading in clear water until the glass goes dark.”
Dr. Caleb Maddox has a fight with his long term girlfriend which ends with him catching a heavy bottomed whiskey tumbler to the forehead. He leaves Bridget distraught over the news he has just shared but also upset that she resorted to violence.
Blood flows from his split forehead.
Caleb finds The House of Shields Cocktail Bar where the tumblers are used to hold whiskey instead of flying through the air as weapons of rage. He polishes off a couple of drinks when she appears at his side. Her scent first catches his attention. It takes him a moment to focus through whiskey laden eyes, but when he does, he can’t look anywhere else. ”She spoke with an accent he couldn’t identify. It wasn’t a voice that came from another place, but maybe a voice that came from another time. Or maybe that was the dress she wore, and the choker of pearls, and that dark perfume. As if she’d stepped out of a silent film, or crawled down from one of the alcoves where previously she’d been holding a bronze olive branch, casting light and shadow….She reminded him of a painting.”
She orders absinthe, a particular brand called Berthe De Joux.The drink is banned in many countries in 1915 and doesn’t make a resurgence until the 1990s. The drink is prohibited for its alleged addictive properties and also because it is thought that it drives many men mad. I think they discovered those men were already well on their way to madness long before they started chasing The Green Fairy. Much of that has been debunked, but it is still a very potent drink, and melting a sugar cube into the green concoction with poured water is a standard way to drink it. I’ve never had it, unfortunately, but the next time I’m in a bar upscale enough to have it (some place that has more than just Bud and Coors on tap), I will definitely be embracing the Green Fairy.
La Muse Verte by Albert Maignan
Emmeline leaves just at the moment he becomes convinced that they have a connection older than the moon. This happens to people in bars because they are deceived by the low lighting, the booze, the good cheer, and endorphins oozing from people’s pores.
Obsessions are so much easier to maintain when we know very little about those that we are obsessing about. As the days go by, Caleb isn’t thinking about Bridget; he is thinking about Emmeline. Even as Bridget reaches out, trying to heal the break in their relationship, Caleb becomes more and more convinced that the elusive and mysterious Emmeline is the woman of his dreams. As I was reading about this unusual relationship, I kept thinking of the movie Gotham (1988), starring Virginia Madsen and Tommy Lee Jones.
Caleb is a pain specialist, and his lab is funded so that he can continue his research into handling pain. His best friend is Henry, a man he grew up with, who now is the M.E. for the city of San Francisco. Their work often dovetails together as Caleb can take samples from victims and determine how much pain they experienced before death.
The epic Haas-Lilienthal house.
When bodies start showing up in The Bay with all the right chemicals released in their bloodstream to indicate long sustained torture before death, everybody realizes they have a very sick serial killer on their hands. Meanwhile, Caleb continues to rendezvous with Emmeline. He waits impatiently for her calls. She is in complete control. She can call him, but he can not call her. They have a date at the famed Haas-Lilienthal House, which was built in 1886 and was one of the few grand buildings to survive the 1906 earthquake. Caleb notices a John Singer Sargent on the wall that leaves him unsettled, like memories rattling a tin cup along iron bars in the deep recesses of his brain.
I’m Yours. She says.
The terror and the uncertainty ratchet up as the people around Caleb become targets of this killer...including himself. His life may have started out slowly spinning out of control, but it has quickly spun up to the point that it is flying apart in all directions. The Green Fairy has him by the throat. The city is under siege. Caleb’s own bizarre past is starting to bleed into the present. Can he figure out who the killer is before he becomes a subject in his own study of PAIN?
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
Dr. Caleb Maddox has a fight with his long term girlfriend which ends with him catching a heavy bottomed whiskey tumbler to the forehead. He leaves Bridget distraught over the news he has just shared but also upset that she resorted to violence.
Blood flows from his split forehead.
Caleb finds The House of Shields Cocktail Bar where the tumblers are used to hold whiskey instead of flying through the air as weapons of rage. He polishes off a couple of drinks when she appears at his side. Her scent first catches his attention. It takes him a moment to focus through whiskey laden eyes, but when he does, he can’t look anywhere else. ”She spoke with an accent he couldn’t identify. It wasn’t a voice that came from another place, but maybe a voice that came from another time. Or maybe that was the dress she wore, and the choker of pearls, and that dark perfume. As if she’d stepped out of a silent film, or crawled down from one of the alcoves where previously she’d been holding a bronze olive branch, casting light and shadow….She reminded him of a painting.”
She orders absinthe, a particular brand called Berthe De Joux.The drink is banned in many countries in 1915 and doesn’t make a resurgence until the 1990s. The drink is prohibited for its alleged addictive properties and also because it is thought that it drives many men mad. I think they discovered those men were already well on their way to madness long before they started chasing The Green Fairy. Much of that has been debunked, but it is still a very potent drink, and melting a sugar cube into the green concoction with poured water is a standard way to drink it. I’ve never had it, unfortunately, but the next time I’m in a bar upscale enough to have it (some place that has more than just Bud and Coors on tap), I will definitely be embracing the Green Fairy.
La Muse Verte by Albert Maignan
Emmeline leaves just at the moment he becomes convinced that they have a connection older than the moon. This happens to people in bars because they are deceived by the low lighting, the booze, the good cheer, and endorphins oozing from people’s pores.
Obsessions are so much easier to maintain when we know very little about those that we are obsessing about. As the days go by, Caleb isn’t thinking about Bridget; he is thinking about Emmeline. Even as Bridget reaches out, trying to heal the break in their relationship, Caleb becomes more and more convinced that the elusive and mysterious Emmeline is the woman of his dreams. As I was reading about this unusual relationship, I kept thinking of the movie Gotham (1988), starring Virginia Madsen and Tommy Lee Jones.
Caleb is a pain specialist, and his lab is funded so that he can continue his research into handling pain. His best friend is Henry, a man he grew up with, who now is the M.E. for the city of San Francisco. Their work often dovetails together as Caleb can take samples from victims and determine how much pain they experienced before death.
The epic Haas-Lilienthal house.
When bodies start showing up in The Bay with all the right chemicals released in their bloodstream to indicate long sustained torture before death, everybody realizes they have a very sick serial killer on their hands. Meanwhile, Caleb continues to rendezvous with Emmeline. He waits impatiently for her calls. She is in complete control. She can call him, but he can not call her. They have a date at the famed Haas-Lilienthal House, which was built in 1886 and was one of the few grand buildings to survive the 1906 earthquake. Caleb notices a John Singer Sargent on the wall that leaves him unsettled, like memories rattling a tin cup along iron bars in the deep recesses of his brain.
I’m Yours. She says.
The terror and the uncertainty ratchet up as the people around Caleb become targets of this killer...including himself. His life may have started out slowly spinning out of control, but it has quickly spun up to the point that it is flying apart in all directions. The Green Fairy has him by the throat. The city is under siege. Caleb’s own bizarre past is starting to bleed into the present. Can he figure out who the killer is before he becomes a subject in his own study of PAIN?
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
February 25, 2016
Oh my Lord!!! This was one of the most bizarre novels I have ever come across! Mr. Stephen King was correct! This book is terrifying! 4.5 Stars rounded up to 5 for it's originality!
Dr. Caleb Maddox is a toxicologist in San Francisco. He has just gone through a bad breakup. This breakup sets off a chain of events that leads to dead bodies, alcohol, more alcohol and a mysterious woman, and boy is she mysterious!
My Goodreads friends are totally right! Boy oh boy is this creepy! I had goosebumps for hours after I finished it!
I listened to the audio version. Luke Daniels was fantastic, especially when he did the voice of this mysterious lady!
Read it!!!
Dr. Caleb Maddox is a toxicologist in San Francisco. He has just gone through a bad breakup. This breakup sets off a chain of events that leads to dead bodies, alcohol, more alcohol and a mysterious woman, and boy is she mysterious!
My Goodreads friends are totally right! Boy oh boy is this creepy! I had goosebumps for hours after I finished it!
I listened to the audio version. Luke Daniels was fantastic, especially when he did the voice of this mysterious lady!
Read it!!!
December 29, 2016
This dark and alluring read is one that demands patience from the reader. Things don’t immediately make sense. Much like walking through thick San Francisco fog, it’s hard to decipher the path that Jonathan Moore is heading down with this story. His words act as a compass, navigating the way through the haze of absinthe, toxicology results, loneliness and obsession. It’s often confusing and a tad bit slow in the beginning, but there was something that kept nagging me - the feeling that I was missing something big. That crucial pieces of the story were being obscured or left out, but why? Just know, when the fog and misty rain clears, the unsettling journey will make sense. You might even find that one of your own theories was correct, like I did.
Fresh from a messy breakup, he even has a bloody cut on his head to prove it, Caleb lands in a bar with the intentions of drinking away his problems. An intoxicating woman ends up on the stool next to Caleb and introduces him to her drink of choice - Berth de Joux or absinthe. It’s this brief encounter that becomes the catalyst for the obsession that starts to eat away at his life and corrupt his every thought. It’s honestly kind of insane how obsessed he becomes with Emmeline, but can you blame a guy for being lonely?
His life becomes an endless cycle of drinking, working behind the scenes with his best friend, the chief medical examiner, to figure out how the rash of men found floating in the bay are being killed and trying to track down the elusive Emmeline. There is quite a bit of repetition, especially the endless amount of times the author explains how Berth de Joux is served, but I won’t go so far to say it detracted from the story itself.
There are some gory bits, which I quite enjoyed (what is wrong with me?!) and a pretty great ending to wrap things up. That’s not to say this isn’t quite strange. It’s guaranteed this won’t be everyone’s drink of choice. It’s oddity makes it quite different and in a way that’s sort of refreshing. With that being said, my theory about what was really going on was correct, but that may be because I read a ton of thrillers or maybe I’m just crazy . . . who knows.
Fresh from a messy breakup, he even has a bloody cut on his head to prove it, Caleb lands in a bar with the intentions of drinking away his problems. An intoxicating woman ends up on the stool next to Caleb and introduces him to her drink of choice - Berth de Joux or absinthe. It’s this brief encounter that becomes the catalyst for the obsession that starts to eat away at his life and corrupt his every thought. It’s honestly kind of insane how obsessed he becomes with Emmeline, but can you blame a guy for being lonely?
His life becomes an endless cycle of drinking, working behind the scenes with his best friend, the chief medical examiner, to figure out how the rash of men found floating in the bay are being killed and trying to track down the elusive Emmeline. There is quite a bit of repetition, especially the endless amount of times the author explains how Berth de Joux is served, but I won’t go so far to say it detracted from the story itself.
There are some gory bits, which I quite enjoyed (what is wrong with me?!) and a pretty great ending to wrap things up. That’s not to say this isn’t quite strange. It’s guaranteed this won’t be everyone’s drink of choice. It’s oddity makes it quite different and in a way that’s sort of refreshing. With that being said, my theory about what was really going on was correct, but that may be because I read a ton of thrillers or maybe I’m just crazy . . . who knows.
February 18, 2016
OH. SO. CREEPY. GOOD.
An atmospheric San Francisco is the setting for this DARK super creepy, slowly unfolding, frightfully good haunted story of toxicologist Caleb Maddox.
Painstakingly distressed over the violent and recent breakup with his live-in girlfriend, Caleb decides to wallow his troubles away in drink when a mysterious woman in black sits down next to him awakening a DARK buried desire and setting him on a path of wicked dreams and forgotten memories.
With secrets on top of secrets, this DARK multi-layered psychological crime-thriller is filled with the unknown and nothing is as it seems, and psst......
"I will never lie to you." . . . . . . "I will never hurt you."
A satisfying shocker of a read!
July 12, 2016
I received a free copy of this from the publisher for review.
Caleb Maddox is a toxicologist who just wants to drown his sorrows after an ugly breakup with his girlfriend. At a bar he meets the beautiful and bewitching Emmeline who has a taste for absinthe but then vanishes into the night. Caleb is instantly obsessed and determined to find her, but he finds himself getting drawn into the investigation of several murders when he tries to track her down.
Nothing good happens when you start chasing the green fairy, people.
This is very well written thriller that creates an intensely brooding and spooky atmosphere. Caleb navigates the cold and foggy streets of San Francisco in a kind of trance fueled by booze, heartache over his girlfriend, and his strange infatuation with Emmeline. He seems to be operating in a dreamlike state at times, but that tone contrasts nicely with the more straight line narrative of what’s going on with the murders.
The killings aren’t the only mystery to be solved here. What was the cause of the fight between Caleb and his girlfriend? What’s up with the hints of an ugly tragedy in Caleb’s past? Who exactly is Emmeline, and why is Caleb instantly so determined to find her?
What’s even more impressive is that all of this is dealt with an incredibly tight 274 pages. The book doesn’t feel a bit rushed, but there’s also not an ounce of fat on it. Plus, for all it’s moody atmosphere there’s incredibly fascinating hard science mixed in with Caleb’s toxicology skills coming into play at several points.
This would be a great book to be reading in a dimly lit bar on a rainy night. Just don’t get into the absinthe. That’s when things get weird.
Caleb Maddox is a toxicologist who just wants to drown his sorrows after an ugly breakup with his girlfriend. At a bar he meets the beautiful and bewitching Emmeline who has a taste for absinthe but then vanishes into the night. Caleb is instantly obsessed and determined to find her, but he finds himself getting drawn into the investigation of several murders when he tries to track her down.
Nothing good happens when you start chasing the green fairy, people.
This is very well written thriller that creates an intensely brooding and spooky atmosphere. Caleb navigates the cold and foggy streets of San Francisco in a kind of trance fueled by booze, heartache over his girlfriend, and his strange infatuation with Emmeline. He seems to be operating in a dreamlike state at times, but that tone contrasts nicely with the more straight line narrative of what’s going on with the murders.
The killings aren’t the only mystery to be solved here. What was the cause of the fight between Caleb and his girlfriend? What’s up with the hints of an ugly tragedy in Caleb’s past? Who exactly is Emmeline, and why is Caleb instantly so determined to find her?
What’s even more impressive is that all of this is dealt with an incredibly tight 274 pages. The book doesn’t feel a bit rushed, but there’s also not an ounce of fat on it. Plus, for all it’s moody atmosphere there’s incredibly fascinating hard science mixed in with Caleb’s toxicology skills coming into play at several points.
This would be a great book to be reading in a dimly lit bar on a rainy night. Just don’t get into the absinthe. That’s when things get weird.
February 21, 2016
A man walks into a bar. After a possible relationship ending incident with his girlfriend, he is in desperate need of a drink. He notices a beautiful woman in a black dress, has a small interaction with her and is intrigued. Sounds like the beginning of a noir thriller, doesn't it? I thought so but I was wrong. It morphs into a murder mystery, a character study and much more.
The mans name is Caleb and he is a toxicologist who is helping his longtime friend Henry, who is the medical examiner. They are investigating the possible drugs used as an aid in the murder of men found floating in the bay. But Caleb has a haunting past, he has secrets and his search for the intriguing woman will bring this all to a head.
What a fantastic, mind bending read. Every time I thought I had something figured out I was proven wrong. Nothing is as it seems and the pace picks up as the book goes on, fast and furious. What to believe, who to believe. A serious twisty, psychological novel. Quite addictive.
ARC from Netgalley.
The mans name is Caleb and he is a toxicologist who is helping his longtime friend Henry, who is the medical examiner. They are investigating the possible drugs used as an aid in the murder of men found floating in the bay. But Caleb has a haunting past, he has secrets and his search for the intriguing woman will bring this all to a head.
What a fantastic, mind bending read. Every time I thought I had something figured out I was proven wrong. Nothing is as it seems and the pace picks up as the book goes on, fast and furious. What to believe, who to believe. A serious twisty, psychological novel. Quite addictive.
ARC from Netgalley.
July 15, 2016
After having a fight with his girlfriend, toxicologist Caleb Maddox meets an alluring, mysterious woman in a bar and becomes obsessed with her. As he tracks the woman down, he gets entangled in a case involving people being poisoned and dumped in San Francisco bay. But what was his fight with his girlfriend about and what dark secret is he hiding? Will his obsession get in the way of solving the case or will he find himself trapped in something a thousand times as sinister?
I got this book from the publisher and sat on it for about a month. Honestly, ARCs feel like homework a lot of the time and I'm getting to be more choosy with my reading time. However, Kemper said it was good so I finally knuckled under and gave it a read.
Well, that hoople-head was right again. I should have cracked this open as soon as it arrived on my doorstep. The Poison Artist is a creepy thriller that wrapped around my brain stem as soon as I read a few pages.
Caleb Maddox is a man running from a dark and damaged past. It seemed he had everything together until a fight with his girlfriend. While trying to wash himself down the drain with alcohol, he meets a sexy stranger and becomes entranced. Couple that with a serial killer and a lot of absinthe, and there are a lot of balls in the air.
As I said before, this was one gripping read. As Caleb went further off the rails trying to find Emmeline, I couldn't set the book aside. The Poison Artist was my absinthe.
The tales of Caleb's break-up, his obsession with Emmeline, and his mysterious past converge in a horrifying fashion. I thought I had a pretty good idea how things would go after the initial setup but I was wrong. Turns out Jonathan Moore can weave a pretty fucked up web. He had me second-guessing myself quite a few times.
Jonathan Moore manages to weave obsession, hard science, murder and into an absinthe-fueled thriller. Four out of five stars.
I got this book from the publisher and sat on it for about a month. Honestly, ARCs feel like homework a lot of the time and I'm getting to be more choosy with my reading time. However, Kemper said it was good so I finally knuckled under and gave it a read.
Well, that hoople-head was right again. I should have cracked this open as soon as it arrived on my doorstep. The Poison Artist is a creepy thriller that wrapped around my brain stem as soon as I read a few pages.
Caleb Maddox is a man running from a dark and damaged past. It seemed he had everything together until a fight with his girlfriend. While trying to wash himself down the drain with alcohol, he meets a sexy stranger and becomes entranced. Couple that with a serial killer and a lot of absinthe, and there are a lot of balls in the air.
As I said before, this was one gripping read. As Caleb went further off the rails trying to find Emmeline, I couldn't set the book aside. The Poison Artist was my absinthe.
The tales of Caleb's break-up, his obsession with Emmeline, and his mysterious past converge in a horrifying fashion. I thought I had a pretty good idea how things would go after the initial setup but I was wrong. Turns out Jonathan Moore can weave a pretty fucked up web. He had me second-guessing myself quite a few times.
Jonathan Moore manages to weave obsession, hard science, murder and into an absinthe-fueled thriller. Four out of five stars.
August 22, 2016
Have you seen.......?
Hundreds and hundreds of flyers shoved into the hands of passing strangers, tacked onto wooden poles, stapled onto laundromat bulletin boards. Have you seen this missing man and many, many others like him?
San Francisco boasts of a beautiful bay and an enticing, jaw-dropping view. That is until the nudge of a floating body comes alongside your boat. Well-dressed, successful men who have come to a very, very bad end. And the medical examiner, Henry, is perplexed as to why these men have certain lethal chemicals that once soared in their veins. What exactly is the connection?
Dr. Caleb Maddox, a City By the Bay toxicologist and owner of a highly successful lab, has his antennae up and running. He and his team are involved in the chemical effects of pain on the human body and what the tolerance level of that pain is. He and Henry have been friends since childhood. They're no longer swapping baseball cards, but gory details of these heinous murders.
Caleb's nerves are raw from his recent breakup with Bridget, his live-in girlfriend. His life is a personal soup of disconnect, uncertainty, and sleepless nights. Enter: the endless bottles of booze and the meandering visits to local upscale bars. This jaded combo doesn't quite add up when you have a lab to run and research to sail forward.
But it is in one of these dark, obscure bars that Caleb meets up with Emmeline.....tall, willowy, black-haired, and dressed in a clinging satin number. Caleb becomes smitten with this femme fatale and seeks her out with a vengeance. Keep your eye on Emmeline. Have mercy, children!
Warning: This is a heavy, heavy psychological thriller in which the characters fiercely drive the storyline. You will become deeply involved and the details will roll around your brain like a loose marble in a convoluted series of mazes. It is a brilliant series of untangling the knotted strings presented to you. You are either on board totally or you are not. Only place your foot on the platform if you are up and ready for a wild, crazy, head-rolling ride. This one puts the true "creep" in creepy.
Jonathan Moore presents a story like no other. He's done his research in lab chemicals and the jagged chemistry between human beings. There's a bit of absinthe that can add a bit of a sonic boom here as well. A very well-crafted read, indeed. Looking forward to more from this extremely talented author.
Hundreds and hundreds of flyers shoved into the hands of passing strangers, tacked onto wooden poles, stapled onto laundromat bulletin boards. Have you seen this missing man and many, many others like him?
San Francisco boasts of a beautiful bay and an enticing, jaw-dropping view. That is until the nudge of a floating body comes alongside your boat. Well-dressed, successful men who have come to a very, very bad end. And the medical examiner, Henry, is perplexed as to why these men have certain lethal chemicals that once soared in their veins. What exactly is the connection?
Dr. Caleb Maddox, a City By the Bay toxicologist and owner of a highly successful lab, has his antennae up and running. He and his team are involved in the chemical effects of pain on the human body and what the tolerance level of that pain is. He and Henry have been friends since childhood. They're no longer swapping baseball cards, but gory details of these heinous murders.
Caleb's nerves are raw from his recent breakup with Bridget, his live-in girlfriend. His life is a personal soup of disconnect, uncertainty, and sleepless nights. Enter: the endless bottles of booze and the meandering visits to local upscale bars. This jaded combo doesn't quite add up when you have a lab to run and research to sail forward.
But it is in one of these dark, obscure bars that Caleb meets up with Emmeline.....tall, willowy, black-haired, and dressed in a clinging satin number. Caleb becomes smitten with this femme fatale and seeks her out with a vengeance. Keep your eye on Emmeline. Have mercy, children!
Warning: This is a heavy, heavy psychological thriller in which the characters fiercely drive the storyline. You will become deeply involved and the details will roll around your brain like a loose marble in a convoluted series of mazes. It is a brilliant series of untangling the knotted strings presented to you. You are either on board totally or you are not. Only place your foot on the platform if you are up and ready for a wild, crazy, head-rolling ride. This one puts the true "creep" in creepy.
Jonathan Moore presents a story like no other. He's done his research in lab chemicals and the jagged chemistry between human beings. There's a bit of absinthe that can add a bit of a sonic boom here as well. A very well-crafted read, indeed. Looking forward to more from this extremely talented author.
May 20, 2017
You know that thriller that keeps you up until 2:30 in the morning because you just have to know how it all ends? Yeah, this book. I loved it!!!!
“The Poison Artist” is a dark and brooding urban noir thriller about Caleb Maddox, a man with a troubled past who runs the toxicology research lab at UCSF. Caleb is struggling with a recent breakup with his long-term girlfriend and work pressures when a mysterious femme fatale insinuates herself into his life. At the same time, Caleb’s friend Henry, a medical examiner, asks for Caleb’s help - Henry thinks a serial killer might be at work, dumping bodies into the San Francisco Bay.
Moore is a master at creating a brooding and suspenseful atmosphere and the writing is outstanding. I loved the throwback feel of the book – the absinthe (what a ritual! fascinating!) and speakeasies, ghost gray antique coupes with white walled tires and statuettes on their hoods, dark haired sirens with black silk gloves…….dreamy and haunting. Highly recommend.
“The Poison Artist” is a dark and brooding urban noir thriller about Caleb Maddox, a man with a troubled past who runs the toxicology research lab at UCSF. Caleb is struggling with a recent breakup with his long-term girlfriend and work pressures when a mysterious femme fatale insinuates herself into his life. At the same time, Caleb’s friend Henry, a medical examiner, asks for Caleb’s help - Henry thinks a serial killer might be at work, dumping bodies into the San Francisco Bay.
Moore is a master at creating a brooding and suspenseful atmosphere and the writing is outstanding. I loved the throwback feel of the book – the absinthe (what a ritual! fascinating!) and speakeasies, ghost gray antique coupes with white walled tires and statuettes on their hoods, dark haired sirens with black silk gloves…….dreamy and haunting. Highly recommend.
November 27, 2015
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Wow, oh wow!! This is exactly the type of psychological thriller that I love. It is so well written and kept me guessing right up until the end. It was taut, creepy, spine tingling and kept the adrenaline flowing throughout the read. No blood, guts or gore which I have a hard time with. The tension is all about the the incredible way the killer is doing away with the victims.
Caleb is a scientist who is currently researching how the body handles pain. He is a very emotionally and psychologically troubled young man having gone through a lot of horrible things in his childhood and early youth. He has a friend on the police force and a girlfriend who try to keep him on track but it’s not working.
The plot of this book is incredibly detailed in it’s prose and elaborately laid out with lots and lots of surprises along the way. We also learn a lot about poisons which I found very interesting. The use of absinthe by Caleb and a mysterious woman sent me looking it up as I know it was used by many artists back in the days of Van Gogh, etc. Extremely dangerous and mind blowing.
There is a killer who is torturing his victims before sending them to a watery grave. Caleb’s mind is so disjointed that we don’t really know if he can distinguish what is real from fantasies in his mind. There is so much going on that you must pay attention or you may lose your way.
I have never read a book by Jonathan Moore but he is definitely going to the top of my list for psychological thrillers. Read this book, you will not be disappointed! So well done.
Wow, oh wow!! This is exactly the type of psychological thriller that I love. It is so well written and kept me guessing right up until the end. It was taut, creepy, spine tingling and kept the adrenaline flowing throughout the read. No blood, guts or gore which I have a hard time with. The tension is all about the the incredible way the killer is doing away with the victims.
Caleb is a scientist who is currently researching how the body handles pain. He is a very emotionally and psychologically troubled young man having gone through a lot of horrible things in his childhood and early youth. He has a friend on the police force and a girlfriend who try to keep him on track but it’s not working.
The plot of this book is incredibly detailed in it’s prose and elaborately laid out with lots and lots of surprises along the way. We also learn a lot about poisons which I found very interesting. The use of absinthe by Caleb and a mysterious woman sent me looking it up as I know it was used by many artists back in the days of Van Gogh, etc. Extremely dangerous and mind blowing.
There is a killer who is torturing his victims before sending them to a watery grave. Caleb’s mind is so disjointed that we don’t really know if he can distinguish what is real from fantasies in his mind. There is so much going on that you must pay attention or you may lose your way.
I have never read a book by Jonathan Moore but he is definitely going to the top of my list for psychological thrillers. Read this book, you will not be disappointed! So well done.
May 9, 2016
Yuck. Bizarre and a little too twisted for my taste. Creepy and very atmospheric, it was possibly quite well done but I couldn't get past the absurdity of the nineteen forties noir blending seamlessly into present day. There was something missing for me. The mix of confusing toxicology work, the mystery woman, the unexplained breakup, the everything-out-of-reach/what-is-going-on-here plot and main character left me disinterested overall. I don't mind being left in the dark with a thriller but this felt like every once in a while I turned the page into another era and then back to the present. Most are raving about this though. This is kind if it's own genre and one that just didn't work for me. 2.5 stars
December 23, 2016
This book was nearly the death of me. I started it in February but no matter how much I read or picked it up it just did not excite me at all. I found the plot dragged on and nothing remotely creepy or scary was going on. Did I read a different book?
It was just bland and the characters so uninteresting. This was a huge disappointment after a lot of hype. I literally persisted but didn't enjoy it. Next please!
2 stars as I really didn't like the book at all or think it anything special compared to others I've read this year.
For more of my book reviews, plenty of awesome books to win, and author Q&A events come to: https://www.facebook.com/BookloverCat...
To follow me on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/promotethatbook
It was just bland and the characters so uninteresting. This was a huge disappointment after a lot of hype. I literally persisted but didn't enjoy it. Next please!
2 stars as I really didn't like the book at all or think it anything special compared to others I've read this year.
For more of my book reviews, plenty of awesome books to win, and author Q&A events come to: https://www.facebook.com/BookloverCat...
To follow me on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/promotethatbook
November 15, 2015
This is an interesting literary mystery, featuring Dr Caleb Maddox. We first meet Caleb when he has just broken up with his girlfriend, artist Bridget. She has hurled a glass at him during an argument and he retreats to a hotel and the bottle. Wandering the bars on a cold, San Francisco night, he meets a woman who intrigues him to the point of obsession. When he is later interviewed by Inspector Kennon and Garcia, he discovers that a man in the bar has been killed, but he omits to tell the detectives about the beautiful lady that he met that evening.
Before long, Caleb’s life begins to spiral out of control. He runs a high profile toxicology lab and is currently applying for an important research grant, but begins to skip work and spend his days drinking and sleeping and his evenings hunting for the mystery woman. Then he is approached by his old friend, medical examiner Dr Henry Newcomb, who asks for his advice on a string of strange deaths. Before long, Caleb finds himself embroiled in the case, both as a witness and as an investigator. However, as an expert in pain, he has spent his life finding things that nobody else could see – poisons, pathogens, the cause of murders…
I really did enjoy this book. It is a chilling literary novel, with several secrets at its heart. First, there is the secret of the beautiful woman who seemingly appears from nowhere and entrances Caleb. She hints at a dark and tragic childhood and we are aware, almost from the start of the book, that Caleb himself has family secrets that he keeps deeply buried. Then there are the flyers that litter the streets; the missing men whose bodies keep turning up. As Caleb struggles with his relationship with Bridget, plus his obsession with the beautiful and mysterious woman in the bar; he tries to balance his friendship with Henry and Inspector’s Kennon increasing interest in him. The tension barely lets up until the end in an atmospheric and dark nove,l about obsession and desire, which takes place over a cold, San Francisco Christmas.
Before long, Caleb’s life begins to spiral out of control. He runs a high profile toxicology lab and is currently applying for an important research grant, but begins to skip work and spend his days drinking and sleeping and his evenings hunting for the mystery woman. Then he is approached by his old friend, medical examiner Dr Henry Newcomb, who asks for his advice on a string of strange deaths. Before long, Caleb finds himself embroiled in the case, both as a witness and as an investigator. However, as an expert in pain, he has spent his life finding things that nobody else could see – poisons, pathogens, the cause of murders…
I really did enjoy this book. It is a chilling literary novel, with several secrets at its heart. First, there is the secret of the beautiful woman who seemingly appears from nowhere and entrances Caleb. She hints at a dark and tragic childhood and we are aware, almost from the start of the book, that Caleb himself has family secrets that he keeps deeply buried. Then there are the flyers that litter the streets; the missing men whose bodies keep turning up. As Caleb struggles with his relationship with Bridget, plus his obsession with the beautiful and mysterious woman in the bar; he tries to balance his friendship with Henry and Inspector’s Kennon increasing interest in him. The tension barely lets up until the end in an atmospheric and dark nove,l about obsession and desire, which takes place over a cold, San Francisco Christmas.
March 30, 2016
★★★½
The Poison Artist is a hallucinatory noir/thriller/mystery novel written by attorney and seasoned author: Jonathan Moore. The Poison Artist started out feeling first and foremost like pretty dry detective fiction in my opinion, but eerie events, slowly revealed character history, and random appearances from a silent-film styled vixen created creepy suspense with several doses of mysterious sensuality. The flow of the story is pretty slow-going but it definitely ends with a bang that I didn't see coming...at...all. I had all my eggs in one basket in terms of the whodunit but I was wrong and I love that blindsided feeling while reading mysteries!
According to an online interview posted HERE, Mr. Moore answered a question about his inspiration with the following:
My visual for the character Emmeline:
Note: From the author:
"The Poison Artist is the first book in a trilogy of San Francisco thrillers. The next two novels are called The Dark Room and The Night Market. Each book stands alone, but they are all painted in the same noir palette. One character appears in all three books, but I won’t spoil anything by saying which one. The Dark Room comes out in January of 2017, and The Night Market will follow a year after."
The Poison Artist is a hallucinatory noir/thriller/mystery novel written by attorney and seasoned author: Jonathan Moore. The Poison Artist started out feeling first and foremost like pretty dry detective fiction in my opinion, but eerie events, slowly revealed character history, and random appearances from a silent-film styled vixen created creepy suspense with several doses of mysterious sensuality. The flow of the story is pretty slow-going but it definitely ends with a bang that I didn't see coming...at...all. I had all my eggs in one basket in terms of the whodunit but I was wrong and I love that blindsided feeling while reading mysteries!
According to an online interview posted HERE, Mr. Moore answered a question about his inspiration with the following:
"I had the idea for The Poison Artist while on an all-night walk from Golden Gate Park to Sausalito. It was just something about looking back at the city from the center of the Golden Gate Bridge, and seeing the hills and the lights come in and out of the fog. San Francisco is so dark, and cold, and yet it sparkles with beauty. I wanted to tell a story like that."Personally, I think Mr. Moore succeeded. If you enjoy the genres listed for this book then consider reading The Poison Artist. I generally pass on the crime/detective/investigation-themed mysteries but I ended up liking this one. It is well-researched, darkly deceiving, and creepy as hell. Check it out!
My visual for the character Emmeline:
Note: From the author:
"The Poison Artist is the first book in a trilogy of San Francisco thrillers. The next two novels are called The Dark Room and The Night Market. Each book stands alone, but they are all painted in the same noir palette. One character appears in all three books, but I won’t spoil anything by saying which one. The Dark Room comes out in January of 2017, and The Night Market will follow a year after."
February 15, 2017
I can't remember why I requested this on NetGalley, as it's not my preferred genre.
This review will be relatively short, as it's hard to say much without giving away spoilers.
The main character is Caleb Maddox, who's a chemist/scientist in San Francisco, studying, amongst other things, a way to quantify pain thresholds. He's recently broken up with his partner and finds himself drifting, most of the time in a state of inebriation. He's recently discovered a fondness for absinthe. There's also a mysterious woman, Emmeline, he's encountered in a luxury bar.
At the same time, bodies are being discovered in the San Francisco bay. His best friend, Henry, is the chief coroner, and he asks for Caleb's assistance.
I'll leave it at that.
I don't read many thrillers. I don't like grim and I have a very low thresh-hold for descriptive crimes and gore. Luckily, there wasn't that much of it, most of it towards the end.
Moore is a good writer, there were some beautiful descriptive passages. The MO of this type of novels is fully employed, it builds and builds and we are taken on side roads and diverted from the obvious. There are secrets. And a few convenient events. But nothing too over-the-top.
So, for what it's worth, while I didn't love this (I can't remember ever loving a thriller), this was pretty good. I liked the set-up, the descriptions and the psychological aspects. I also enjoyed the scientific tidbits.
I've received this via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to Hachette Australia for the opportunity to read and review this.
This review will be relatively short, as it's hard to say much without giving away spoilers.
The main character is Caleb Maddox, who's a chemist/scientist in San Francisco, studying, amongst other things, a way to quantify pain thresholds. He's recently broken up with his partner and finds himself drifting, most of the time in a state of inebriation. He's recently discovered a fondness for absinthe. There's also a mysterious woman, Emmeline, he's encountered in a luxury bar.
At the same time, bodies are being discovered in the San Francisco bay. His best friend, Henry, is the chief coroner, and he asks for Caleb's assistance.
I'll leave it at that.
I don't read many thrillers. I don't like grim and I have a very low thresh-hold for descriptive crimes and gore. Luckily, there wasn't that much of it, most of it towards the end.
Moore is a good writer, there were some beautiful descriptive passages. The MO of this type of novels is fully employed, it builds and builds and we are taken on side roads and diverted from the obvious. There are secrets. And a few convenient events. But nothing too over-the-top.
So, for what it's worth, while I didn't love this (I can't remember ever loving a thriller), this was pretty good. I liked the set-up, the descriptions and the psychological aspects. I also enjoyed the scientific tidbits.
I've received this via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to Hachette Australia for the opportunity to read and review this.
March 20, 2016
I liked this book. It started out a bit slow and plodding (imo), but the last 100 pages or so I had to read in one sitting! When I finished and thought back to a certain scene, ewww, gruesome! It was a very atmospheric read. I love when an author has the ability to really make me feel the setting (which this one definitely did)!
December 19, 2020
Horror, mystery and intrigue at its finest.
I was skeptical in believing 'The Poison Artist' could actually be as terrifying as the reviews indicated. Well. . . it was - and then some! Excellent!
I was skeptical in believing 'The Poison Artist' could actually be as terrifying as the reviews indicated. Well. . . it was - and then some! Excellent!
September 19, 2016
I’ve had great luck with some of Stephen King’s recommendations (The Troop, You, Rebecca, among others). According to King, The Poison Artist is “terrifying.” I’m baffled by this, as I found it disappointing, predictable, and not the slightest bit scary.
I will say Moore’s San Francisco setting is atmospheric and enjoyably noirish, and his writing is perfectly fine. However, the characterizations and plot are lackluster.
The main character, Caleb, is unbearably boring, his girlfriend Bridget is whiny and cries constantly, and Emmeline, who is meant to be mysterious, is a completely stereotypical femme fatale in every way. Even bearing in mind , the cookie cutter quality of the character was unbearable.
Worst of all though is the plot, the twist of which can be easily figured out early on, certainly if one has read books with a similar plotline… of which there are many.
Sad to say I can’t recommend this at all.
I will say Moore’s San Francisco setting is atmospheric and enjoyably noirish, and his writing is perfectly fine. However, the characterizations and plot are lackluster.
The main character, Caleb, is unbearably boring, his girlfriend Bridget is whiny and cries constantly, and Emmeline, who is meant to be mysterious, is a completely stereotypical femme fatale in every way. Even bearing in mind , the cookie cutter quality of the character was unbearable.
Worst of all though is the plot, the twist of which can be easily figured out early on, certainly if one has read books with a similar plotline… of which there are many.
Sad to say I can’t recommend this at all.
October 24, 2025
Не знам защо, но не успях да харесам достатъчно тази мрачна история.
Сюжетът е доста предвидим, но "Отровителят" определено е криминален роман с добър понтенциал. Грамотно написан, но въпреки това, нещо в начина на развитието на героите и действието не ми разбуди интереса достатъчно, та от там идва и ниската ми оценка.
Допадна ми корицата на българското издание.
P.S. Все пак, научих за много интересен художник - Максфийлд Париш и определено се насладих на картините му!
Сюжетът е доста предвидим, но "Отровителят" определено е криминален роман с добър понтенциал. Грамотно написан, но въпреки това, нещо в начина на развитието на героите и действието не ми разбуди интереса достатъчно, та от там идва и ниската ми оценка.
Допадна ми корицата на българското издание.
P.S. Все пак, научих за много интересен художник - Максфийлд Париш и определено се насладих на картините му!
January 14, 2018
I'm shocked at the 3.56 average rating for this book.
This was a five star for me very early on but this low average kept niggling in the back of my mind, worrying me that as good as this was going, eventually Moore was going to crap the bed on this one.
Didn't happen.
I absolutely loved Jonathan Moore's writing. His storytelling has a lot of depth: a skilled mixture of plotlines, all the while brilliantly holding back some of Caleb's history, which made this such an enticing read right up until the last page. Man, so good.
I have to thank Kemper for his review of The Night Market, the third in this loose trilogy, for putting Moore on my radar.
I think the less said about this novel, the better. Suffice it to say, it's a psychological suspense crime tale, told with a nice San Francisco dropback. Mysterious, captivating, sexy, dark, all of these in high quality, and liberally garnished with obsessiveness. He knocked this out of the park.
Ignore the average rating if it's still below four stars.
Five easy stars from me, and highly recommended.
This was a five star for me very early on but this low average kept niggling in the back of my mind, worrying me that as good as this was going, eventually Moore was going to crap the bed on this one.
Didn't happen.
I absolutely loved Jonathan Moore's writing. His storytelling has a lot of depth: a skilled mixture of plotlines, all the while brilliantly holding back some of Caleb's history, which made this such an enticing read right up until the last page. Man, so good.
I have to thank Kemper for his review of The Night Market, the third in this loose trilogy, for putting Moore on my radar.
I think the less said about this novel, the better. Suffice it to say, it's a psychological suspense crime tale, told with a nice San Francisco dropback. Mysterious, captivating, sexy, dark, all of these in high quality, and liberally garnished with obsessiveness. He knocked this out of the park.
Ignore the average rating if it's still below four stars.
Five easy stars from me, and highly recommended.
February 6, 2017
DNF @15%
What a bore of a book... Jesus nothing happens in the first 6 chapters
The friggin tax act is more interesting than this novel
What a bore of a book... Jesus nothing happens in the first 6 chapters
The friggin tax act is more interesting than this novel
April 13, 2016
I’m not sure if I’d classify this novel as a noir-ish genre novel or a horror novel, although many crimes are horrific. This novel has a disturbing feel, a dark and sordid feel. Author Jonathan Moore has this novel take place is the foggy and dark San Francisco area, where there wasn’t a sunny day in the novel. The whole story seemed to take place in a fog.
When the reader meets Dr Caleb Maddox, the main character, he has just split from his girlfriend after a fight that caused his girlfriend to hurl crystal at his face. Caleb leaves his house and checks into a hotel. We don’t learn the details of the fight until the end of the novel. In fact, there many mysteries the reader is left to ponder until the end.
At any rate, after he checks himself into a hotel, Caleb meets a mysterious woman, who seizes his interest, which becomes an obsession. Caleb’s fixation to the woman becomes very disconcerting. It’s like watching a train wreck. At the same time, professionally Caleb is under stress and pressure as he’s trying to get a multi-million dollar grant.
Mysterious murders begin occurring in the area. Caleb is drawn into the murders when his childhood friend who is the Chief Medical Examiner asks for his help. The forensic information adds to the story. The reader also gets clues that Caleb suffered from childhood trauma, which adds to the mystery of the story.
San Francisco is in a fog; the reader is in a fog. The whole story is like a fog, but a good one. I suspected who the murderer was about 2/3 into the novel, yet, the ending didn’t disappoint. I highly recommend this novel if you want a fast paced, super creepy murder mystery novel. The writing is descriptive and the characters are interesting. I find it interesting that in this crime novel, it’s the male character that the reader sees as self-destructive. It’s a great read. Thank you Jennifer for bringing it to my attention!
When the reader meets Dr Caleb Maddox, the main character, he has just split from his girlfriend after a fight that caused his girlfriend to hurl crystal at his face. Caleb leaves his house and checks into a hotel. We don’t learn the details of the fight until the end of the novel. In fact, there many mysteries the reader is left to ponder until the end.
At any rate, after he checks himself into a hotel, Caleb meets a mysterious woman, who seizes his interest, which becomes an obsession. Caleb’s fixation to the woman becomes very disconcerting. It’s like watching a train wreck. At the same time, professionally Caleb is under stress and pressure as he’s trying to get a multi-million dollar grant.
Mysterious murders begin occurring in the area. Caleb is drawn into the murders when his childhood friend who is the Chief Medical Examiner asks for his help. The forensic information adds to the story. The reader also gets clues that Caleb suffered from childhood trauma, which adds to the mystery of the story.
San Francisco is in a fog; the reader is in a fog. The whole story is like a fog, but a good one. I suspected who the murderer was about 2/3 into the novel, yet, the ending didn’t disappoint. I highly recommend this novel if you want a fast paced, super creepy murder mystery novel. The writing is descriptive and the characters are interesting. I find it interesting that in this crime novel, it’s the male character that the reader sees as self-destructive. It’s a great read. Thank you Jennifer for bringing it to my attention!
February 23, 2017
I loved this book. The writing craft is excellent. I hope he keeps writing. I have already read his next on, The Dark Room loved that one as well.
July 25, 2016
2-1/2 stars, but I'll round it up to 3.
I had high expectations for this book, based on the 4 and 5 star ratings and reviews about how creepy it was. Unfortunately, I just didn't get it.
The first 100 or so pages were just weird and boring to me. I've read plenty of books where you, the reader, are kept in the dark about what's really going on and things are revealed bit by bit. However, for the majority of this story, I felt like I was stumbling around in the dark and fog as much as Caleb was. You get all these vague references to Caleb's argument with his girlfriend, but by the time it's FINALLY revealed what the argument was about, I honestly didn't give a crap.
So after about 3/4 into the book it finally kicks into high gear. I will not include any spoilers in my review, but I will say what others may have considered creepy and atmospheric I just found frustrating and ridiculous at times.
There are some gruesome scenes in this book, but that kind of stuff never bothers me. You know what did? The 50 f***** times I had to read about the proper preparation for drinking absinthe! Seriously, I got it the first time. Didn't need it fully repeated again, and again, and again, and again, and again (see how annoying that is?)
I don't mean to rip on Jonathan Moore's book. I have great admiration for anyone who can transfer their idea into a book. There was a good concept here, but for me, it just wasn't a well-executed one. However, that's just one reader's opinion. I do think there was a good enough idea behind this book that I would be willing to read another from him to see if I liked it better than The Poison Artist.
I had high expectations for this book, based on the 4 and 5 star ratings and reviews about how creepy it was. Unfortunately, I just didn't get it.
The first 100 or so pages were just weird and boring to me. I've read plenty of books where you, the reader, are kept in the dark about what's really going on and things are revealed bit by bit. However, for the majority of this story, I felt like I was stumbling around in the dark and fog as much as Caleb was. You get all these vague references to Caleb's argument with his girlfriend, but by the time it's FINALLY revealed what the argument was about, I honestly didn't give a crap.
So after about 3/4 into the book it finally kicks into high gear. I will not include any spoilers in my review, but I will say what others may have considered creepy and atmospheric I just found frustrating and ridiculous at times.
There are some gruesome scenes in this book, but that kind of stuff never bothers me. You know what did? The 50 f***** times I had to read about the proper preparation for drinking absinthe! Seriously, I got it the first time. Didn't need it fully repeated again, and again, and again, and again, and again (see how annoying that is?)
I don't mean to rip on Jonathan Moore's book. I have great admiration for anyone who can transfer their idea into a book. There was a good concept here, but for me, it just wasn't a well-executed one. However, that's just one reader's opinion. I do think there was a good enough idea behind this book that I would be willing to read another from him to see if I liked it better than The Poison Artist.
January 4, 2022
A terrifying read.
A research doctor, a specialist in pain, becomes involved with a mysterious woman who introduces him to the pleasures of absinthe.
In the meantime with the aid of his friend, the San Francisco medical examiner, they attempt to solve the mystery behind the apparently random torture-murders of well-to-do men who happen to frequent upscale bars in the Bay Area.
Very creepy tale, at times reminiscent of a few of Jim Nisbet's more macabre novels.
I gave this 4 out 5 stars because I kind of intuited the resolution a hundred and sixty or seventy pages into this novel.
Still in all -a brilliantly written, horrifyingly gory tale of terror.
A research doctor, a specialist in pain, becomes involved with a mysterious woman who introduces him to the pleasures of absinthe.
In the meantime with the aid of his friend, the San Francisco medical examiner, they attempt to solve the mystery behind the apparently random torture-murders of well-to-do men who happen to frequent upscale bars in the Bay Area.
Very creepy tale, at times reminiscent of a few of Jim Nisbet's more macabre novels.
I gave this 4 out 5 stars because I kind of intuited the resolution a hundred and sixty or seventy pages into this novel.
Still in all -a brilliantly written, horrifyingly gory tale of terror.
March 29, 2016
Dark, creepy, hypnotic
I was hooked from the very first page. It felt like walking through fog -which is in fact a constant companion in the atmospheric San Francisco setting. Step by step, we go into the life of toxicologist Caleb Maddox. At first we just get a glimpse of things. Vague images. Shadows. Then, characters appear, questions arise, secrets from the past emerge. Mystery turns into murder, which then turns into something else.
I enjoyed the detailed portrayal of the venues and certain events, it created quite a visual background. At times though, it did slow the story down a bit. On the other hand, I think these descriptive passages actually distracted us from fully grasping the underlying…shall we say…poison. That is, until we are face to face with the ugly truth, then we want to turn away from the horrible images. Ugh.
Also, there was always something missing from the scene, something we weren’t shown yet, which was a bit annoying. But the narrator is Caleb himself, and he lets us into the story in his own pace.
We follow him through twists and turns, dark alleys and foggy roads into dim-lit bars; accompanied by la fée verte, after a mysterious woman he has met and just cannot forget…
…closing his eyes, trying to recreate in his mind the scent she carried. He didn’t know if nightshade was a flowering plant, or if its flowers bloomed at night, but the word was right. It was dark, something occulted. You might lose yourself in the shadows just looking for it. Looking for her.
3.5-4 stars
I was hooked from the very first page. It felt like walking through fog -which is in fact a constant companion in the atmospheric San Francisco setting. Step by step, we go into the life of toxicologist Caleb Maddox. At first we just get a glimpse of things. Vague images. Shadows. Then, characters appear, questions arise, secrets from the past emerge. Mystery turns into murder, which then turns into something else.
I enjoyed the detailed portrayal of the venues and certain events, it created quite a visual background. At times though, it did slow the story down a bit. On the other hand, I think these descriptive passages actually distracted us from fully grasping the underlying…shall we say…poison. That is, until we are face to face with the ugly truth, then we want to turn away from the horrible images. Ugh.
Also, there was always something missing from the scene, something we weren’t shown yet, which was a bit annoying. But the narrator is Caleb himself, and he lets us into the story in his own pace.
We follow him through twists and turns, dark alleys and foggy roads into dim-lit bars; accompanied by la fée verte, after a mysterious woman he has met and just cannot forget…
…closing his eyes, trying to recreate in his mind the scent she carried. He didn’t know if nightshade was a flowering plant, or if its flowers bloomed at night, but the word was right. It was dark, something occulted. You might lose yourself in the shadows just looking for it. Looking for her.
3.5-4 stars
June 22, 2016
It is interesting to read a mystery that does not feel like it is starting a franchise, at least not with its central character. It is a breath of something new, not fresh so much as foggy & noir-ish & menacing. The fog without makes me think of the absinthe clouding in the glass. The city and the absinthe seem like supporting characters in this elegantly written, strange suspense story. And a fictional painting by John Singer Sargent--perfection.
Highly recommended. 4.5 stars.
Highly recommended. 4.5 stars.
July 24, 2016
3.5- for me beginning was draggy. V spooky atmosphere-esp end. Had it narrowed down to 4 possible suspects( there are only 4 main people in story-I am quite a gifted detective). Ending reminded me of...oops that would have been a spoiler "fer sure."
January 13, 2016
In Jonathan Moore's incredibly intelligent and creepy psychological horror/suspense novel The Poison Artist, San Francisco toxicologist Caleb Maddox has an emotional breakup with his girlfriend and is nursing his misery over a few drinks in a nondescript bar. He meets a femme-fatale type over a class of absinthe and becomes infatuated with this woman whose obsession with secrecy is as mysterious and enticing as the timing in which they meet. There happens to be a number of other stressful events going on around Caleb at this point in his life. He is struggling with a funded research project that deals with the effects of pain on the brain and body and his long-time friend Henry, a forensics examiner, is asking him for advice on a string of suspected drownings that may also involve chemical poisoning which are happening in the Bay Area.
Caleb Maddox is the focus of Moore’s novel and it is a blurry focus at best at the beginning. We do not know at first the reason for the tumultuous break-up but we know it must have been of the devastating variety. We slowly discover that Caleb has had a traumatic childhood with his artist father but we do not know the details until much later. What becomes obvious early on is that Caleb is very troubled and very fragile. He makes a lot of stupid moves during the novel but we stick with him because those moves make a certain amount of sense within the range of Caleb’s life and pain. The “stupid moves” seem to mean something, which is kind of a neat trick for the author to play. The mysterious woman is also fragile but creepy. She is the type of woman that novels like The Woman in White and the movies like Vertigo made famous and is a stalwart of this type of psychological thriller. Caleb’s obsession with this woman either makes for a majestic epic or a creepy and scary masterpiece of the nightmare kind and I suspect you already know where this one is headed.
Just as important is the string of murders that Caleb’s friend is working on. They appear to be drownings but tests shows a particular sameness in their injuries and involves a particular substance in their bodies. Caleb’s expertise as a toxicologist brings him into this investigation but on the sly since he is also one of the last people to see the most recent victim alive. Caleb’s role as secret adviser and possible suspect causes a strange precarious balancing act for him and brings him into the proverbial spider web just the more tightly.
All these twists, overlapping sub-plots and behavioral motives make for a complex yet hypnotizing read. It is one in which we may be a bit unsure of the main protagonist but can’t resist seeing how far he will drag himself in. And of course mysterious femme fatales are always a plus. The delight in the novel is that Moore plays it out so well. He weaves all the spider silk together and never falls off the beam. The trick is to give us just enough to keep us going, a little more to say, “I think I know” but not enough to really know and perhaps even be shocked when we do know. There are enough turns and red herring to keep the most jaded mystery buff wondering. Yet in something like this, it is not the who-done-it that excites me as much as the dark and complex minds of our protagonist and the woman that obsesses him to do actions that most of us would shake our heads at. This is the hallmark of the psychologist thriller. The entrapment into the darkness caused by the faulty workings of a mind that goes beyond reasoning. The Poison Artist fits neatly with that handful of exceptional psychological suspense novels that capture that dark and unenviable passion that lead to terror and horror. The Poison Artist is an eerie but well-structured excursion into that dark territory and is recommended to anyone who loves a good literary suspense novel.
Caleb Maddox is the focus of Moore’s novel and it is a blurry focus at best at the beginning. We do not know at first the reason for the tumultuous break-up but we know it must have been of the devastating variety. We slowly discover that Caleb has had a traumatic childhood with his artist father but we do not know the details until much later. What becomes obvious early on is that Caleb is very troubled and very fragile. He makes a lot of stupid moves during the novel but we stick with him because those moves make a certain amount of sense within the range of Caleb’s life and pain. The “stupid moves” seem to mean something, which is kind of a neat trick for the author to play. The mysterious woman is also fragile but creepy. She is the type of woman that novels like The Woman in White and the movies like Vertigo made famous and is a stalwart of this type of psychological thriller. Caleb’s obsession with this woman either makes for a majestic epic or a creepy and scary masterpiece of the nightmare kind and I suspect you already know where this one is headed.
Just as important is the string of murders that Caleb’s friend is working on. They appear to be drownings but tests shows a particular sameness in their injuries and involves a particular substance in their bodies. Caleb’s expertise as a toxicologist brings him into this investigation but on the sly since he is also one of the last people to see the most recent victim alive. Caleb’s role as secret adviser and possible suspect causes a strange precarious balancing act for him and brings him into the proverbial spider web just the more tightly.
All these twists, overlapping sub-plots and behavioral motives make for a complex yet hypnotizing read. It is one in which we may be a bit unsure of the main protagonist but can’t resist seeing how far he will drag himself in. And of course mysterious femme fatales are always a plus. The delight in the novel is that Moore plays it out so well. He weaves all the spider silk together and never falls off the beam. The trick is to give us just enough to keep us going, a little more to say, “I think I know” but not enough to really know and perhaps even be shocked when we do know. There are enough turns and red herring to keep the most jaded mystery buff wondering. Yet in something like this, it is not the who-done-it that excites me as much as the dark and complex minds of our protagonist and the woman that obsesses him to do actions that most of us would shake our heads at. This is the hallmark of the psychologist thriller. The entrapment into the darkness caused by the faulty workings of a mind that goes beyond reasoning. The Poison Artist fits neatly with that handful of exceptional psychological suspense novels that capture that dark and unenviable passion that lead to terror and horror. The Poison Artist is an eerie but well-structured excursion into that dark territory and is recommended to anyone who loves a good literary suspense novel.
April 18, 2017
I wasn't really sure what to expect from this one - I generally try not to read too much about a thriller before starting it because I love to be surprised by a plot line, and I am glad that I did for this one. So I will do my best to review this without revealing anything - or hinting at anything. Because going into this one without any expectations (I am unfamiliar with the author, too) really made this a fun and fast-paced read. It opens with a very noir style - the main character, Caleb, has broken up with his artist girlfrien and retreats to a San Francisco hotel where he first glimpses an enigmatic woman who completely begins to be the focus of his obsession. Caleb's work as a toxicologist helps to connect with the woman a swell. And I like the way Moore maintains the pacing while not skipping out on plot or character development - especially with the mystery of Caleb's missing time as a child. Some of the action feels unreliable at times, which makes guessing the next steps all the more fun. It's a darker thriller, but an entertaining one that becomes genuinely gripping the more pages you turn! I like that the way some things are revealed to prove good guesses right, but still manages to come as a surprise somehow... There are some things that I usually have a good eye for that took me by surprise. It feels like a complete novel, but there is enough room that it could have a sequel. And the toxicology angle adds some genuinely fascinating factoids that I felt like a bit of a creeper sharing with my husband! It's aptly titled, that's for sure!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 540 reviews