The Fat Man -- Maurice Gee

Eh.  I liked this book a lot less than I had hoped.

Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, said that it was a "seamlessly crafted psychological thriller".  I guess that's true.  Well, it's true that it's a psychological thriller.  I don't think that it was "seamlessly crafted", though.  There weren't any characters that I took to--Herbert, the title character (also the villain) was the most interesting, but he still wasn't likeable.  Actually, that's a lie. 

Herbert's mother was the most interesting character, but she didn't live long enough to be that entertaining.  I didn't like any of the other adults--I didn't buy it that NOBODY but Colin and Verna saw Herbert's true (horrible) nature.  Colin's little romance with Verna didn't ring very true to me, either. 

The smallish twist at the end made sense, but I think that the subtlety might be lost on the 12-year-old target audience.  As books about payback go, this one was, well, kind of boring.  It had moments of suspense, but for the most part, it was pretty dull.

It wasn't so awful that I would call it a BAD book, but it isn't one that I can imagine myself recommending to anyone.