Skyscape

Skyscape is a commentary on celebrity and the healing power of art which focuses on two men: Curtis Newns, a tortured artist, and Red Patterson, a psychiatrist. Newns, the most famous painter alive, leads a life of quiet desperation. Unable to find meaning in his life or work, the painter has already attempted suicide. He recovered physically, but nothing moves him, neither the desperate pleadings of his admirers nor the tender ministrations of his loving wife, Margaret. Just as it appears that he may be emerging from his malaise, Newns learns that his masterpiece, the painting known as Skyscape, has been destroyed in a fire. The news sends him into another downward spiral. Margaret, fearing for her husband, decides drastic measures are in order. She enlists the aid of Red Patterson, a flamboyant, wildly successful psychiatrist who has transformed the insular profession of psychiatry into spectacle, miraculously curing patients during sixty minute telecasts. He has a genuine gift for healing, one which conceals his darker traits. These traits become more prominent as Patterson devotes himself to curing Newns--Cadnum portrays a descent into megalomania which will chill you. The battle for Curtis Newns' soul allows Cadnum to comment on many facets of our culture. This is a thoughtful, well-written book, full of insight into the power of art, media, and the cult of celebrity--I found myself reflecting on its subtle lessons long after I put it down. No supernatural horror here--just the ordinary kind we humans are so good at creating.

Curtis Newns is a brilliant young artist, perhaps the greatest of his generation, who is rapidly descending into mental illness. Red Patterson is a brilliant but erratic psychiatrist who has become a celebrity for his spectacular cures in front of a live television audience. Margaret is Curtis' devoted wife, desperately trying to protect the artist from onrushing disaster. Somehow author Cadnum brings these implausible elements together in a riveting, fast-paced novel. Margaret will do anything to help her husband, even consult the celebrity psychiatrist. Patterson will do anything to get Curtis painting again and so enhance his own reputation. Even if it means taking the artist out of civilization and holding him prisoner in a desert hideaway.Will Curtis ever paint again? Will he even survive? What will happen to their marriage? What evil lurks behind the charming facade of Red Patterson and how will it affect all who come into his orbit? You will have to read the book to find out. To tell the truth, much of it is a little hard to believe. You just have to accept it and read on. And when you do you will get hooked. The tempo slowly picks up and by the end you are racing through the pages. The author is a master of tone and atmosphere. In the very first pages he creates a mood of dark foreboding that only builds with each page.This is a book that deserves more attention. I recommend it. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber