Just Finished Reading: The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld

New York – 1909. The very day after the controversial figure of Sigmund Freud arrives for his only visit to the US a beautiful debutant is found bound and strangled in her penthouse apartment. Within days another attack takes place. This time the young girl survives the ordeal but can neither speak nor apparently remember her attacker. Called into consult by the police, Stratham Younger, a disciple of Freud, attempts psycho-analysis on the victim and finds himself drawn into a tangled web of power politics, decadence and sexual perversion. At the heart of it all is the new method of examining, and curing, the darkest fears of the human mind – something that a secret cabal will stop at nothing to prevent contaminating America.

This is the author’s first novel and shows both the best and the worst aspects of that fact. It is meticulously researched allowing the reader to believe in the New York backdrop of 1909: It feels real. The level of detail is, however, a little overwhelming at times. Characterisation is very good but, in the case of Freud and party, a little too dry and almost academic. The pace of the novel is generally good but draws to a halt in places as the main characters discuss things and draw conclusions before moving on to the next set piece. Some of the discussions are very interesting indeed – in particular a rather irrelevant discussion about the psychology of Hamlet – but add nothing to the plot. At times the action is a little too clunky as the author twists the storyline a little too much out of shape for often unnecessary shock effect. One thing it does very well indeed is keep you guessing to the last handful of pages. The surprise ending that was pulled out of the bag at the last minute made sense and wrapped up the whole thing rather nicely – and I had no idea it was coming (which I enjoyed). Despite all its faults (not all that many to be honest and not all that jarring) this was a quick, rather enjoyable and often fascinating read. Whilst clearly a first novel it was written well enough to show promise which I am rather pleased with as I already own the sequel. I shall look forward to another outing with Stratham Younger and his friend in the New York police department as they solve another case using psychoanalysis and good old fashioned police work. Overall this was a more than reasonable historical crime novel. Recommended.

BTW – This was the last book in the recent batch of historical novels. I’ll now be taking a short break from any themes before embarking on my next themed batch which will be Future Earth – so back to SF soon (phew!).