Historical Fiction

Nueva York, 1920. La Guerra Mundial ha terminado, pero aún no han llegado los prósperos Años Locos. Y ahora a la euforia bélica le ha sucedido el desplome económico de la posguerra. Las fábricas cierran, las familias pierden sus casas, y los desahuciados y los despedidos ni siquiera pueden ahogar sus penas en la bebida, porque ya rige la Ley Seca. Las calles de Manhattan hierven de resentimiento y confusas pasiones, y el 16 de septiembre, a las doce y un minuto, estalla una bomba enWall Street ante las puertas del banco de J. P. Morgan, muy cerca del edificio del Tesoro de los Estados Unidos. Y, a unos cincuenta metros de la escena del crimen –hubo treinta y ocho muertos y cientos de heridos–, también están Stratham Younger, el joven médico y discípulo de Freud, y Jimmy Littlemore, el detective de la policía de Nueva York, que diez años antes y con una pequeña ayuda de Freud se enfrentaron en La interpretación del asesinato a una serie de sádicos crímenes. Stratham se ha citado allí con el detective porque la hermosa, reservada y quizá desesperada Colette, una discípula de Madame Curie que ha venido con él desde Francia, necesita hablar con el detective, tiene algo que contarle. Y lo que sabe –o esconde Colette– quizá sea la primera pista que permita descifrar el horror desencadenado ante ellos...

I came close to throwing in the towel on this book multiple times within the first 180 pages but stuck with it mainly to see what the author would do with this tumultuous time period. I was also pleasantly surprised that he had some flash backs to the battles fields of WWI, which I always find interesting. Sigmund Freud and Marie Curie are characters in this book and I enjoyed the way Rubenfeld used both of their discoveries and theories as part of the scaffolding for his story. There's political intrigue, scientific discoveries, cutting edge medical treatments, social unrest, prohibition, abuse of workers, capitalist tycoons, classism, sexism, Italian-bashing, antisemitism, rape, white slavery, multiple trips across the Atlantic, a car and motorcycle chase, an airplane ride, and lots of other historic tidbits and thriller novel conventions, but none of it seems overly forced to me. Rubenfeld is a skilled writer to pack in as much as he does without the story getting too clunky. While the novel never became a page turner for me, the reading did pick up after those first 180 pages. I'm glad I stuck with it just to see how much he was so skillfully able to weave into what I thought was a very good story. The two big things that were lacking for me were well-rounded characters that I cared about and atmosphere. Hence, the two star rating: it was okay and I'd recommend it to historical fiction fans. ( )

Loved the history and the way the story was worked into the real events. Very interesting and enjoyable book... ( )

I don't often read popular fiction because the writing is often clunky. No exception here, but the story was compelling and fun enough to keep me going. ( )