The zoo

The Zoo is such an incredible novel! I found myself so completely swept up into James' disintegrated mental world that, when I did briefly look up from the pages of this book, it took a second to pull myself back to the real world. Told in two timelines - James' current existence in a hospital environment and his gradual recollections of the events that landed him there - the situation is initially as confusing for readers as it is for James himself, but as we began to delve deeper into his psyche, The Zoo takes on a chilling aura. I had an idea where The Zoo might have actually come from and it turned out that I was pretty close in my guess, but its incarnation to James is masterfully portrayed. I admit I was surprised to discover that Jamie Mollart's expertise was as an advertising executive, not a mental health professional. His portrayal of a broken mind is so vivid and scarily bewildering. I don't want to say too much about the storyline itself because I don't think The Zoo wouldn't have half as much impact if one already knew where it was headed. However, I am delighted to have had this opportunity to read The Zoo and enthusiastically recommend it to anyone who loves tense psychological thrillers, novels that go to very dark places, and novels with unreliable narrators. Read this book!!