En algún sitio leí que estaba bien. Claro que la lectura anterior había dejado el listón bastante alto. Pero "La interpretación del asesinato" me ha aburrido un poco. Demasiada paja psicoanalítica de por medio, aunque sea necesaria por la presencia de Freud y Jung en la trama.

La historia transcurre en Nueva York, año 1909. Una hermosa mujer aparece asesinada en su apartamento, colgada de un gancho, azotada y con heridas cortantes, muerta por asfixia. La mujer vivía en un lujoso edificio propiedad de un rico magnate, amigo del alcalde de Nueva York, por lo que éste decide encargar la investigación directamente al forense Hugel y asignarle a un policía recién llegado y por tanto aún sin corromper: Littlemore. Al día siguiente, Nora Acton, una jovencita de buena familia, aparece en su habitación colgada, azotada y con heridas, a punto de la asfixia. No puede contar lo que le ha sucedido porque ha perdido la voz y la memoria.

Al mismo tiempo, Freud, Jung y Ferenczi llegan a los Estados Unidos para dar una serie de conferencias en una universidad. Son recibidos por Brill, Jones y Younger, tres de sus más fervientes seguidores. El alcalde sabe de la llegada de tanta eminencia y encarga a Freud que psicoanalice a Nora, a ver si consigue sacarla de su amnesia. Freud delega en Younger esta tarea.

La trama de investigación pura y dura está bien, aunque hay ratos que se vuelve un poco farragosa. La parte de la novela dedicada a psicoanalizar a Nora se hace peñascosa y absurda por lo insistente en traumas por abusos sexuales, complejos de Edipo y celos hacia su madre. La parte dedicada a analizar psicoanalíticamente "Hamlet" era que para qué contar. En resumen, que me sobra demasiado para considerar que merece la pena leerla.

I quite enjoyed the historical aspects of this book. I am not I admit a fan of Freud but in the end his involvement did blend well with this mystery. The book was a good balance between history and fiction although I do admit to being a wee bit disappointed that my favourite characters in this book never existed.

This book kept me interested right to the end. I found the details of Freud's psychoanalytical theory fascinating and the fictional murder mystery, which was the main thread of the book, was a real mystery until quite near the end.

Interesting murder mystery fiction extrapolated from the factual one and only visit Freud made to America but written with a great deal of historical fact and what was fictionalized is clearly outlined.

This was an interesting read. Not exactly what I had expected but it was a good story that ended in a way I did not expect.

Overall, I did enjoy this story. It reminded me of "The Alienist" and "Angel of Darkness" by Caleb Carr, which I loved. I like that turn of the century time period. I like the mystery involved. But I felt like the last 20 pages or so was just to explain everything to the reader. It didn't do the actual story justice. I actually really liked the mystery part. I found myself constantly guessing and then changing my mind.

Read the sequel to this book first, but it didn't matter---good historical fiction.

A friend of mine lent me her paperback copy of this book, telling me little other than it is a mystery novel involving Sigmund Freud set here in New York around the turn of the century. She said she enjoyed it, and I was just off my long involvement with Wolf Hall, so I wanted a sure thing. I read it right away.

I liked pieces of it, most notably the historical descriptions. The author depicts the time period well, and I particularly enjoyed picturing in my head the modern locations of areas described in the novel: a luxurious apartment building on the Upper West Side based on the Ansonia, Gramercy Park, etc. This is always my favorite part about reading stories set here.

But, I thought the mystery part was just so-so. It was muddled by a bunch of very unnecessary story lines that did nothing to advance the plot or character development. The worst of these was one about an undercover conspiracy to threaten Freud and stop him from lecturing at a university, which was dull, pointless, and (according to something I read later), not even based in fact.

I'm always up for a novel set in New York City, but this one didn't thrill me.

This falls in the category for me of books read for entertainment. The fact that it contained as characters both Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung drew me in, having studied them in school and having been drawn to Jung's work. The Jung portayed here was not the Jung I recall learning about! Not a likeable person. The edition I read contained notes by the author that explained his research and the license he took with historical facts and timelines, which is really a bonus IMHU. Detective Littlemore was endearing as the good guy policeman who wouldn't give up. The writing was fine, nothing annoyed me or excited me either way. The number of red herrings seemed to pile up a little over time, but it wasn't a big distraction. A good sort of book for in-between other books when you need a pleasant break!