I must say it has taken me a long time to finish this book but I have finally done it. And I must say this was an excellent read indeed. If you love crime and good plot twists then this is definitely for you.
Plot: One murder and an attempted murder has occurred and it is believed that a man is responsible for both crimes. Freud, Jung and Frenzai come to New York to present a lecture on Psychoanalysis to a college in Worcester. Younger and Brill meet them at the boat and they introduce them to the big city and what America has to offer. However this is short lived when Freud and his colleagues must assist victim Ms Acton with recovering her memories of an attempted murder. With Younger trying to help Ms Acton with her memory, sabotage on Freud’s psychoanalysis theories, lectures and even his reputation and Detective Littlemore trying to solve the case, you will be eager to turn the pages to see what is happening next.
Everyone knows who Sigmund Freud is, or by the end of it, you will have a general idea who he was. However you don’t need to be a psychoanalysis to understand some of the theories. The basic theories are explained however majority of the book uses simple terminology during analysis. The character of Freud is a major character in the first part of the book (Hence a play on the title of the book, Interpretation of Dreams by Freud), however during the book his followers, tend to refer to him rather than speak to him directly and personally as the reader, don’t get that much time to understand the character. However this book is mainly about Younger and the mysterious killer so maybe the author did not want to emphasise too much on the psychoanalysis.
We don’t follow one person the whole way through the book. It cuts to different characters and scenes to keep the story more interesting and keep you alert. For example, one scene has you near the construction site half way through the book and are introduced to a new character and an unknown figure. Even though its one chapter it does make you wonder what this has in connection with the story as a whole. The main characters that it does follow are Younger and Littlemore. These characters have been developed nicely and can be easily imagined in their head. Younger is the enthusiast psychologist with a thirst for understanding people and Littlemore a young detective who is eager to please the coroner and somewhat naive at the beginning. However not stating the other minor characters don’t have a strong enough persona, they are equally important to the storyline and are well developed through the book.
Plot twists are a staple for your basic crime thriller novel. However for this book it seems to keep giving each plot twist their own plot twist. When something seems to make sense it turns it over and makes you think again. Not many books can pull it off, however with this one you will be saying to yourself ‘Ohhh!’
As the book was set in the 1909 there was a lot of research needed for this book. I must say the author had done a very good job in that department. However some details were changed for example the date of when Freud came to America and some locations were added. As well as making up the people that never existed. However when he describes the locations of buildings what is occurring at the time he was writing for are quite accurate. As I don’t find inaccuracy a mar on my enjoyment of reading the book some people may find it more beneficial when they read the book.
This book is worth the read. An amazing storyline which keeps your attention and makes you keep turning the pages, it’s worth picking up. More plot twists than you can handle and an amazing cast of characters for the book, I can highly recommend this book
8.2/10
There has been a sequel to this book, The Death Instinct. I shall be reviewing this book in the near future.
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