The Great Pretender

People have asked me over the years: if they liked The Psychopath Test, what should they read next? I now have an answer. Susannah Cahalan’s The Great Pretender is such an achievement. It’s a wonderful look at the anti-psychiatry movement and a great adventure - gripping, investigative. It’s destined to become a popular and important book – JON RONSONUtterly compelling … important and spirited * * Observer * *A fascinating piece of detection … passionate [and] a warning against easy answers * * Sunday Times * *A well-crafted, gripping narrative that succeeds on many levels. Cahalan, who gained the trust of Rosenhan’s family, is meticulous and sensitive in her research; compelling and insightful in her writing. She accurately conveys the troubles that have haunted psychiatry over the past half-century … her book, which I hope wins awards, has immense value as a historical account * * Financial Times * *Brilliant detective work … fascinating * * Guardian * *I wasn’t really prepared for the story Cahalan ends up telling. That she discovered the truth about Rosenhan is a testimony to her dogged research. That this truth was inconvenient for her own outlook on psychiatry is a compliment to her integrity. She writes it all very well too, with clarity, economy and style * * The Times * *A vivid account … An impressive feat of investigative journalism - tenaciously conducted, appealingly written … as compelling as a detective novel * * Economist * *The Great Pretender recounts the remarkable investigation that [Cahalan] undertook. The book reads like a fascinating real-life detective story … Exposing what [Rosenhan] got up to is a quite exceptional accomplishment, and Cahalan recounts the story vividly and with great skill * * Spectator * *The Great Pretender reads like a detective story, with Cahalan revealing tantalising clues at opportune moments so we can experience the thrills of discovery alongside her * * New York Times * *A quite remarkable and utterly compelling real-life detective story * * Times Literary Supplement, Book of the Year * *

Susannah Cahalan is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, a memoir about her struggle with a rare autoimmune disease of the brain. She lives in Brooklyn.