Jamey Cadmus was the scion of a Pasadena family, but his family had a tragic history. His parents died early, and he was left as a 3-year old to the care of his uncle and aunt. Jamey was part of a UCLA study of the exceptionally gifted, those with an IQ greater than 160. The intent of the study was to show that the idea of greater madness among geniuses was just a myth, but as Jamey aged, he began having more trouble, seeming to disprove the theory behind the study. As a child, Jamey had been in psychotherapy with Dr. Alex Delaware, but at the age of 16, he dropped out of treatment. Delaware called the uncle about Jamey’s need to continue treatment, but the uncle never called back. Five years later, Jamey called Dr. Delaware in the middle of the night, clearly psychotic, begging for his help. Then, Jamey was charged with being a serial killer, and Dr. Delaware was called into the legal process as Jamey’s advocate. Of course, all was not as it seemed. As with Kellerman’s prior stories about Dr. Delaware, he did a great job with the psychiatric/psychological issues. He used the characters to effectively address facts about psychopaths and schizophrenics, and he was fair in his portrayal of psychologists and psychiatrists, as well as different schools of thought in both disciplines. He also was knowledgeable and interesting in his discussion of both psychotropic and psychotomimetic medications. Of course, I like the staging of the stories in LA and especially at UCLA where I spent so much time in those same sciences. While this story held together, I did not find it quite as riveting as some of Kellerman’s other works. For me, Over the Edge only gets an average rating, not a “must read” recommendation.
No comments:
Post a Comment