Product Description
Charlie Weir is a man who tackles other people's demons for a living. He has seen every kind of trauma during his years as a psychiatrist in New York.Yet he hasn't found a way of resolving his own conflicts, particularly the fatal mistake that caused his wife and daughter to leave him condemning him to corrosive loneliness and restless anger.Years later, he meets a beautiful but damaged woman who promises to restore his dwindling faith in both his profession and himself. But as he realizes that she has become more of a patient than a lover, events conspire to send him reeling toward the abyss. Addictive and enthralling, Trauma is Patrick McGrath's most riveting work to date.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 11 reviews)

Not his best by Katya (San Diego, CA)

3 Stars
March 17, 2009
if you have read McGrath's "Asylum" this one is pretty thin beer. Elegantly written, as always, but the emotional tension seems more manufactured than in his earlier books. I didn't buy into the final revelation of Wier's own childhood trauma at all. Why didn't the brother tell him all those years? Disappointing.

Gripping, very human story by Savannah Jade (Los Angeles, California USA)

5 Stars
August 29, 2008
I immediately was drawn into this book. It's characters were well drawn, the plot although going back and forth in time was compelling and I didn't see the end coming. Charlie is almost heart-breaking, as he suffers through relationships in spite of being a psychiatrist trained in helping others through their problems. An excellent novel!

This book will knock you off of your feet. . . by Clark

5 Stars
August 24, 2008
Trauma is an intense book. It thoroughly grips you and refuses to loosen up on it's hold, long after you complete the book. The book is only 210 pages in length, but the pages are written so well that it is impossible to feel cheated. I don't want to give away plot details, so I'll just end by saying that everyone should read this book. It is well worth your time and money.

Past Catches Up by Ted Feit (Long Beach, NY USA)

4 Stars
July 01, 2008
A probing psychological study of a man's deterioration is the subject of this novel. Charles Weir is a successful but troubled psychiatrist, brought up in a dysfunctional family on Manhattan's upper West Side. His older brother, a successful artist, is more of an antagonist than a supportive sibling. His mother favors Charles' brother, creating conflict. The ne'er-do-well father leaves the family. Charlie, after leaving Johns Hopkins, takes a prestigious position at a hospital treating Vietnam veterans. His reputation grows. The sister of one of the patients befriends Charlie; ultimately they marry and have a daughter. Then her brother commits suicide and everything begins to fall apart. Seven years later Charlie is introduced by his brother to a beautiful woman; they form a relationship until it too falls apart. When Charlie's mother dies, his ex-wife offers solace, and he begs her to return. These relationships and more are explored in depth by the author in this psychological thriller. Subsequent events plunge Charlie into a mental abyss as past remembrances and traumas are unveiled. Written with deep insight into the human psyche, the author delves profoundly into the egos and development of the various characters with a penetrating eye. Recommended.

Dashed off? by Elizabeth Shipley (Santa Cruz, California United States)

3 Stars
June 24, 2008
If you're hoping for a soul-baring by one of McGrath's fascinatingly damaged narrators, think twice before buying Trauma. As a fan of Dr. Haggard's Disease, Spider, and Asylum, I looked forward to more of the same sort of psychological study in Trauma. It actually belongs to a different genre from McGrath's other books -- not modern gothic (though there is a brief nod in that direction at the end), but a more mainstream exploration of an American psychiatrist struggling to live and work under the burden of a repressed childhood trauma. As the story progresses we're given clues to the nature of the damage, but when the moment of revelation came I found myself only mildly interested. Though Trauma is well plotted and written (I doubt McGrath could do less if he tried), it seemed to me that its author, too, was only mildly interested. Mistakes in the text (e.g., confusion between "lie" and "lay", & between saints Stephen and Sebastian) strengthen the impression that both writer and editor gave less attention to Trauma than they might have done. I'll always be a McGrath devotee, but this particular book fails to grip.

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