USA Network seems to be the home for some of the quirkiest detectives out there, from MONK to BURN NOTICE. Throw in some great pop-culture references and you get the show PSYCH. The basic premise of the series is that since he was a kid, Shawn Spencer has been trained by his father to be observant and use his powers of deduction. But since Shawn can’t take anything seriously, he uses his gift to help the police by posing as a psychic, setting up a detective agency with his lifelong friend, Gus. (In other words, CBS’ new THE MENTALIST is blatantly ripping it off, with no humor or fun.)
What makes the show work so well is the rapport between Shawn and Gus, so trying to capture the way these two interact will either sink or succeed in novel form. I’m here to report that William Rabkin nails it in perfect form in PSYCH: A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO READ.
Truly capturing the show’s manic energy, the book feels like a super-sized episode with some touches that might have been toned down if this were translated to the screen. Just like the show, the book starts with Shawn and Gus as young boys, while Shawn’s dad teaches them a lesson. This moves things right into action. This time out, it’s in a courthouse, where Shawn and Gus are out to prove the innocence of a client, which they do, while also upsetting the local police with whom they work with so closely.
But the police have a little laugh on these two, since Gus’ company car has been impounded, leaving our heroes in the lurch. Things at the impound lot don’t go as smooth as anyone would hope, especially when a shotgun is pulled on them. These two pull an escape that lands Gus in a hospital, as he is hit by a car driven by a girl named Tara, who believes that Shawn is giving her orders psychically.
Shawn uses this to his advantage — in other words, sending her on errands to get him food. If Tara comes off a bit unbalanced, you have no idea how unbalanced, especially when the bodies start piling up, with all the fingers pointing not only at Tara, but Shawn and Gus. Then there is a reappearance of a classmate of theirs who has an offer they can’t refuse.
I’m only scratching the surface of what is to come. Rabkin, who has written for the show, seems to have a lot of fun playing with these characters and throwing in enough pop-culture references to delight the fans — particularly any child of the ’70s and ’80s. This being the first of the tie-in novels, I can only hope they let Rabkin continue, since he truly understands not only the relationship of the characters, but his pacing and their voices come through so clear in his style. —Bruce Grossman
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
The USA network’s mystery shows all have great adaptation writers.
I loooove Psych, but saying that The Mentalist has no humor or fun just isn’t true. It isn’t as joyfully goofy as Psych, but it’s still an awesome, charming show. It’s not really about a detective who pretends to be psychic either.
Psych is one of my favorite shows, but it seems to depend almost completely on the interaction of Sean and Gus. The mystery is just there to give them something to do. Which is fine for me. I may give this book a try sometime in the future, but I wish it didn’t have the part about Sean and Gus being suspects. That part seems cliche. I don’t think they’ve even resorted to that in the series yet. Also, I’m really glad they toned down Sean’s fake spastic psychic readings. I guess they realized those were never funny to begin with and would sooner or later make people change the channel. Now he just puts his hand quickly to his head and has his vision instead of flopping all around the place.