I had an impossible time getting through this book. I feel great empathy for the author and I am sure that the experiences that she endured while married to Will Jordan were traumatizing, but my review is of the writing in her book not her experiences. There were several glaring issues while reading this book. The first was that "The Psychopath" did not give a summary of her first book, but instead assumed that you were familiar with her situation. This could've been easily solved with a short chapter or multiple paragraph summary of her history with Will Jordan and the material covered in her first book. Without it, I was trying to put together the story and it was frustrating. The author's decision to repeat his name over and over again, every single time her exhusband was mentioned, made reading the book a chore. No one wants to read the same name over and over again. We know his name and who you are referring to, using his full name over and over was very frustrating to read. "The Psychopath" meanders between the author's personal story and relates it to research she complied, but because it is written by the individual who experienced the trauma it just felt personal to the point of being vindictive, particularly with the name repetition. And while she has every right to feel victimized and enraged by his treatment, it was too personal of a tone for a stranger to enjoy reading.

⭐️ ⭐️ 1/2 stars

I’m disappointed as I so expected to enjoy this book more. I’m fascinated by criminal psychology, I love true crime, and I love memoirs, so it felt like this book would be an unbeatable combination for me. To be fair, I did not realize this book was a sequel to the authors first book,”The Bigamist”, which I have not read. Perhaps it would have made a difference.

The story follows the author and her ex-husband (a real-life criminal psychopath and bigamist) after the unraveling of her world which I understand was described in detail in The Bigamist. In this book, we hear about the aftermath of the author’s life, as she picks herself up and builds a new life for herself, and about the continuing exploits of her repulsive ex husband. As the author works through her own recovery, she learn more about psychopathy, builds a new career, fortifies her own physical resilience, and finds great comfort in helping others (and in particular, those, like herself, whom her husband has victimized).

The author has done her homework and there was some interesting research sited, as well as a annotated appendix, that I will follow up on. I have read Dr. Robert D.Hare’s “Without Conscience” (which I loved) as well as Jon Ronson’s “The Psychopath Test”, (which I liked a lot), both of which are cited in this book.

I enjoyed the author’s rating, early in the book, of her ex-husband according to Dr Hare’s PCL-R psychopath checklist, and found the examples of behavior she described for each category quite interesting. I also enjoyed the discussion presented on what makes a victim appealing to a psychopath.

I did not enjoy the bulk of the second half of the book, in which the author follows her husband’s exploitation of a great many other victims in the years following her own personal story. Clearly the author and her family have suffered greatly from this evil man and the stories she cites of all the women whose lives he has damaged are truly appalling. I did however, find it tedious to read these stories, which are all very similar and with the tremendous amount of detail cited I did not feel like I was hearing anything new. It felt like perhaps there was just not enough interesting content to make up a second book.

All in all, with no giant spoilers here, it was nice to see the author and her family come out the other end of this horror story relatively intact. I do find this type of book generally provides a service to the public - the more we know about the existence, behavior and predatory patterns of these monsters, the better we can potentially protect ourselves.

A big thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an advance review copy of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

Okay, so...being a fan of psychological thrillers, I picked this up with extra zeal and anticipation, but it did really let me down. I understand that it must've been difficult, but the whole book was filled with pent-up anger and bitter feelings. It did have a good story writing style and was read easily, but the whole time I felt so uncomfortable, like reading someone's personal journal instead of a book. the whole anger could have been directed in a different way, and the outcome could've been so much different. To the credit of the book, it really did show what it is like to be a psychopath and what it is like for people around them.

I loved this book so much! It was the first book I have read by this author and I can't wait to read more! The characters and their story stick with you long after you finish the book.

This was redundant and annoying how the author said his complete name all the time. Did Not Finish. I just couldn't do it. ON and On and ON...catch my drift

The follow up to Mary Turner Thomson's first book, The Bigamist, about her life and marriage to a man found to be married and have children with several women at the same time. The first book was chilling in the facts that Mary, an intelligent woman whom one would never suspect to be susceptible to this type of a con, lived with Will Jordan for many years before being notified of his crimes.....by one of his other wives.

In The Psychopath, Mary compares Will's actions to the psychological scale used to diagnose mental illness. Will seems to fit all of the written tendencies listed. Mary uses her experiences to educate and perhaps save women in similar situations. An interesting read, it will open your eyes to the many manipulations a person can be subjected to before they find themselves trying to get their lives back.

I hadn't heard about this story previously and plan to read the author's first book as a follow-up. There were parts of this book where I felt like I might be missing some of the story, but suspect it's because I didn't read the first book. It is an interesting look to have her perspective on a really wild situation. The author does state that she is not a mental health professional, but even given that, I thought she made some interesting comparisons and has done a good bit of research into this topic! At times the book was a little slow, but I did enjoy it and look forward to reading her other book.

Disclaimer: I received the ARC from the publisher through Net Galley. All opinions are my own.

Though an intriguing and complex topic and I applaud the writer for bravery, a confident and purposeful tone, and for wanting to process this part of her life in this way, I was not able to fully appreciate the story and stories of other due to what was for me a rambling, unfocused, and overly declarative writing style. The style was too simplistic and self focused in places to do justice to the lived experiences being shared; this book might have been more effective if shared from someone with a clinical research background to help organize the ideas and present them in a clarifying clinical or academic perspective, which was more what I was looking for in this book I appreciated the effort and intentions that are behind this book.

The Psychopath creeped me the heck out. I will definitely be purchasing for the library's collection to make sure the thrilling tale is passed on.

An incredible, fascinating and absolute horrific story from Turner Thomson, I can't even imagine what it was like to go through, and very inspired that she is writing her story and has been able to help so many women that have gone through a similar situation. Good for her for making the best out of an awful situation.

This novel, although interesting, is fairly repetitive. It tries to follow a chronological timeline but does back and forth a fair bit with random interludes.

Thanks to NetGalley, Amazon Publishing UK and Mary Turner Thomson for an eArc copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

It's so important that Mary Turner Thomson was able to share her story and be believed by those around her. Unfortunately, so many survivors of emotional abuse and manipulation don't have that luxury.

My favourite element of the book was when Thomson compared tangible examples of Will Jordan's behaviour to the Psychopathy Checklist, but I would caution against using this list in isolation to diagnose someone as a psychopath. I haven't read the prequel to this book, The Bigamist, but I feel like I have a good enough idea of what Jordan put Mary and his other victims through.

The conversational writing style didn't work so well for me, but I respect that this is how Thomson chose to tell her story. I also wasn't a huge fan of seeing Will Jordan's name in full every time he was referenced, but sensed that it may have a tool used to ensure readers never forget his real name!

Such a brave thing writing about your life and experiences. I myself have been in a similar situation and still gets to me today everyday. Well done for opening up and helping others. Must have been hard making the decision to be so open and honest.

Very crazy! I don’t think I realized what I was in for before I started reading this book. A woman comes to find out her husband isn’t who he claims to be. He’s living, in fact, many lives full of a tangled web of lies. Psychopath is an excellent read if highly recommend to anyone.

This book was a very interesting read and I cannot believe what this man did to these women, I am so glad I was able to read this, this book opened my eyes to what can come from any type of abuse. These poor women faced torture in their own way and I am glad they got some justice for what happened to them!

I enjoyed this book, it has helped me to spot negative traits that I have either experienced or performed myself in relationships. I feel it will help me to avoid these in the future, so yeah, very informative.

Full of tips on how to spot a toxic person and the techniques they use.

Only slight niggle was the authors insistence on using the psychopaths full name every single time.

I was excited to read this book. Who doesn't like reading about psychopaths. :) But....it was a difficult one to get through and definitely did not hold my interest.

The read was a chronicling of the author's journey to find her strength again after finding out her husband was a psychopath. It was, to be honest, not quite what I thought it would be in terms of style and feeling. I feel very conflicted about it - I so badly wanted to like it, especially after seeing that the author's story was what prompted Jon Ronson to write The Psychopath Test, but it just fell a bit flat. I also haven't read her first book - The Bigamist - which was referenced a lot in this book and perhaps was a necessary prequel.

My favourite part was probably when the author compared her ex-husbands actions to the psychopath test - I can't believe the lengths this man went to, the callousness with which he acted, and the confidence he continued to have after getting caught again and again. I love that the author was able to build her life back up from the wreckage left behind - starting a publishing company, getting a blackbelt in taekwondo, raising smart, strong children, and emotionally reclaiming all the spaces they had been together. I also think it's quite laudable that she made herself available to future victims.

Overall I think the authors story is incredible, but the book felt a bit sterile, maybe even restrained or detached. I expected a bit more emotion and feeling in the writing, but it felt more like a long essay or a news paper article - like a bullet list of things that happened to get her from point A to point B - perhaps distancing herself or taking the emotion out of writing helped the author distance herself from her ex husband? While I didn't love the style I would probably still recommend it to a friend if they have a specific interest in psychopathy. After reading The Psychopath Test and Snakes in Suits (which are on the more theoretical side) it was interesting to read about a personal account and learn about the damage that can be done to a family by a psychopath.

After having read “The Bigamist” and being equally shocked and fascinated by it, I was unsure how much more information could be added in a second book. However I was happy to read about how Mary has moved on with her life since then whilst continuing create awareness and to help more and more of his victims. I think she is doing a great job in getting her story out there so that not only victims of this man but anyone else having gone through something similar can get the help and support that they need.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

An in depth look at psychopaths and how Mary Turner Thomson developed and wrote her first book, The Bigamist.

While it was entertaining, I felt like the writing style was quite simple - it felt more like a Ted Talk than a book.

With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.

I received an advance copy of The Psychopath, by Mary Turner Thomson. Wow what a book, deceit, lies, secrets, other wives, and children. It breaks down what a psychopath really is.