A Strange Habit of Mind

Written by Andrew Klavan

Narrated by Adam Barr

The founder of Byrner, a global social media platform, Gerald Byrne is universally admired as a visionary, a philanthropist, and a devoted husband and father. And every person who gets in the way of his good work seems to die.

When a former student commits suicide, English professor and ex-spy Cameron Winter takes it upon himself to understand why. The young man was expelled from the university in an unfortunate episode that left Winter sympathetic to his plight; after a prolonged silence, he reached out to his teacher with two words just before taking the fatal plunge from the roof of his San Francisco apartment: "Help me."

Winter has what he calls "a strange habit of mind"-the ability to imagine himself into a crime scene, to reconstruct it mentally and play through various possible causes and outcomes to understand exactly what took place. When he applies this exercise to Adam Kemp's desperate final moments, he discovers a troubling inconsistency. And when he learns that Kemp was in a tumultuous relationship with Gerald Byrne's niece, he begins to suspect that the suicide was the result of a carefully-engineered plot, put in motion by the powerful businessman.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highbridge Company
• Release date: Oct 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781696608138

Andrew Klavan

Andrew Klavan is an award-winning writer, screenwriter, and media commentator. An internationally bestselling novelist and two-time Edgar Award-winner, Klavan is also a contributing editor to City Journal, the magazine of the Manhattan Institute, and the host of a popular podcast on DailyWire.com, The Andrew Klavan Show. His essays and op-eds on politics, religion, movies, and literature have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the LA Times, and elsewhere.

Reviews for A Strange Habit of Mind

[Dave Ihde · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow. Best book by Klavan yet. Very complex, compelling. Highly recommended

[BobRicker · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I Don't know how I've missed Klavan for 68 years.

[Marilyn L Combs · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An excellent story, full of twists, vivid characters, and intriguing questions of philosophy that reach into the soul and meaning of being human.
Totally satisfying! I dashed through it, and could happily listen again.

[Kaitlyn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you like your ex-CIA assassins to be well-read English professors who quote the Romantic poets while saving the world, like I do, then this book is for you !

[Matt Hotradat · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Klavan does it again! Another thrilling crime story full of realism and free of wokeness! Can't wait for the next installment.