A mind to murder (The Interpretation of Murder - Jed Rubenfeld)

Member Name: SWSt

Product:	The Interpretation of Murder - Jed Rubenfeld
Date:	03/02/09 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Strong plotting, readable, straightforward style

Disadvantages: Psychological element is often simply window dressing, overlong - particularly the ending

The Interpretation of Murder is one of those books you often see hanging around in charity shops. Clearly a popular title when it was first published, it has now become almost as ubiquitous in cut-price shops as The Da Vinci Code - a fate it does not really deserve.

The Interpretation of Murder bases itself around Sigmund Freud's first and only visit to American in 1909. There, he was scheduled to give a series of lectures, but something so dreadful happened that he refused to ever go to America again. What those events were no-one knows, but this book presents a fictional account of what might have been.

Actually, for all its trumpeting about having both Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung as characters, they play only a small role in the plot, appearing occasionally to add a few psychological insights. For the most part, the key characters are a young American psychologist, Stratham Younger and a police detective Jim Littlemore, investigating the murder of a young woman.

If one were being cynical, you could argue that Freud, Jung and the whole psychologist element has only been brought in to try and give an illusion of depth. Essentially, what we have here is a fairly simple murder-mystery tale. A woman is murdered and a detective is assigned to investigate the murder. He slowly uncovers a labyrinthine and complex conspiracy leading up to the death. Attempts to give it a veneer of intellectualism by bringing in psycho-sexual theories do add a little bit to the plot, but nowhere near as much as the author perhaps like to think.

Thankfully, this pseudo-intellectualism doesn't spoil the plot and does add at least something to it. You certainly feel as though you get to know the characters on a more intimate scale than in many books, because the analysis and detail provided in the text gives you a greater insight into their inner thoughts and feelings. That said some of the characters do rather feel as though they were created to fit in with certain psychological profiles that the book needed, rather than being more natural creations.

Don't let all this talk of psychology put you off, though, because at heart, The Interpretation of Murder is just a good old-fashioned murder-mystery. Rubenfeld proves himself a highly capable author in this, his first published effort. He sets up the story quickly and efficiently and writes in a simple, appealing and accessible way. There are regular cliff-hangers and new developments built in to keep you interested and, of course, lots of red herrings to throw you off the scent of who the murderer is. It's not actually that hard to work whodunit, but Rubenfeld proves so adept at piling layer upon layer of intrigue that even though the solution seems obvious, you will find yourself questioning your guess at times.

This is also a book which is as much about atmosphere as plot, and the author does an excellent job of re-creating the sights, sounds and smells of early twentieth-century New York. The city feels real and as alive as the main characters and it provides a fascinating backdrop for an interesting plot. You genuinely feel as though you are at a crucial point in the city's history and watch it grow into the place we know and love/hate today. It's clear that Rubenfeld has carefully researched 20th Century New York history and uses some of the facts surrounding its construction to his advantage, weaving them effortlessly into the plot. He does admit taking some liberties with chronologies and geography, but this really doesn't matter.

There are, naturally, some things which do matter. For a start, the book is too long. It's essentially a very simple story, but Rubenfeld drags it out for over 500 pages. You can't help but feel that some of this is padding. In particular, some of the conversations between the various psycho-analysts ultimately have little or no bearing on the main plot. The ending in particular is very dragged out. I guess it's supposed to be an effort to extend the suspense, but I found it aggravating. Towards, the end, I repeatedly found myself thinking "oh, just get on with it" - an impatience I rarely felt with the rest of the book. If this book is a journey, most of the fun is in actually getting there; the final destination (to continue the clumsy analogy) is rather an anti-climax.

The book also introduces too many characters, some of whom disappear for a long time, and then re-appear without warning. There were a couple of times when a character was suddenly mentioned and I actually had to stop reading whilst I tried to recall who they were and in what context we had last seen them. On one level Rubenfeld should be applauded for spoon feeding his readers; on another level, it can be just a little confusing to suddenly find a character reappearing seemingly out of nowhere!

There's also a slight problem with the main characters in that there isn't actually a "main character". The closest (through whose eyes we witness most of the events) is Stratham Younger, but occasionally, the focus shifts and he fades into the background whilst one of the others takes centre stage. Sometimes this shift takes place quite abruptly and can leave you feeling slightly disorientated for a couple of minutes whilst you adapt to this sudden change in emphasis.

For a first effort, though, there is much to commend Rubenfeld. He has a hugely readable style, an imaginative (if slightly over-blown) approach to plotting and a good sense of what makes for a strong narrative. He's certainly an author I'll be keeping an eye out for in future.

Basic Information
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The Interpretation of Murder
Jed Rubenfeld
Headline Review, 2006
ISBN: 978-0-7553-3142-0

Available new from Amazon from £5.19 or new from 1p.

© Copyright SWSt 2009


© Copyright SWSt 2009

Summary: Offers something a little different in the crowded murder-mystery market