Book Review: The Interpretation of Murder

The Interpretation of Murder, written by Jed Rubenfeld, is a historical thriller set in New York in 1909. The novel follows Sigmund Freud and his disciples during Freud's first visit to the United States, where they are enlisted to help the only surviving victim of a brutal murderer to regain her memories of the attack in order to identify the culprit.

Overall the book is undeniably a good murder mystery, with several suspects and a few plot twists. However, Freud is a very marginal character in the story, barely being involved with the main story line and mostly being discussed in regards to the developments surrounding the translation of his work into English and the introduction of psychoanalysis to American doctors. As it was maybe to be expected, Freud's Oedipal complex is widely discussed and integrated in the main plot. What I found especially inappropriate and frankly disgusting was the application of the Oedipal complex in regards to all of Nora's (the surviving victim) experiences. The particular instance where it is stated that she "obviously must have been excited" when she was assaulted at only fourteen years old was genuinely appalling and unnecessary. In addition, whilst Nora is thoroughly analysed and judged throughout the book, not one attempt is made to analyse the assailant nor there is any judgement towards the atrocities he commits.

Furthermore, as much as I appreciate this work is historical fiction, and the characters' opinions are mainly supposed to be in line with the mentality of the time, the amount of misogynistic and racists remarks throughout the entire book did bother me.

In conclusion, despite the mystery itself being very intriguing, the book comes across as very misogynistic and often racist, and the integration of Freud's theories in the plot felt forced and often extremely inappropriate. Unfortunately, in this case the intriguing mystery is not enough to outweigh the bad, reason why I would not recommend this book unless you are a die-hard fan of Freud's work and are not bothered by all the aforementioned issues.