The Interpretation of Murder

In this ingenious, suspenseful historical thriller, Sigmund Freud is drawn into the mind of a sadistic killer who is savagely attacking Manhattan's wealthiest heiresses.

Inspired by Sigmund Freud's only visit to America, The Interpretation of Murder is an intricate tale of murder and the mind's most dangerous mysteries. It unfurls on a sweltering August evening in 1909 as Freud disembarks from the steamship George Washington, accompanied by Carl Jung, his rival and protégé. Across town, in an opulent apartment high above the city, a stunning young woman is found dangling from a chandelier — whipped, mutilated, and strangled. The next day, a second beauty — a rebellious heiress who scorns both high society and her less adventurous parents — barely escapes the killer. Yet Nora Acton, suffering from hysteria, can recall nothing of her attack. Asked to help her, Dr. Stratham Younger, America's most committed Freudian analyst, calls in his idol, the Master himself, to guide him through the challenges of analyzing this high-spirited young woman whose family past has been as complicated as his own.

The Interpretation of Murder leads readers from the salons of Gramercy Park, through secret passages, to Chinatown — even far below the currents of the East River where laborers are building the Manhattan Bridge. As Freud fends off a mysterious conspiracy to destroy him, Younger is drawn into an equally thrilling adventure that takes him deep into the subterfuges of the human mind.

Richly satisfying, elegantly crafted, The Interpretation of Murder marks the debut of a brilliant, spectacularly entertaining new storyteller.

"The search for a serial killer during Sigmund Freud's 1909 visit to New York City, his one trip to the U.S., propels the plot of Yale law professor Rubenfeld's ambitious debut. Freud's arrival coincides with the sadistic murder of a beautiful young woman in an upscale hotel. A similar attack on another woman results in the victim's hysterical paralysis. The efforts of Dr. Stratham Younger, a protégé of Freud's, to recover the survivor's memories of her assailant lead Younger into a morass of politics, big money and kinky sexual escapades. Freud plays a background role, but the father of psychoanalysis does get to expound his ideas, demonstrate his diagnostic acumen and don an apparent martyr's robe. Readers will learn much about Freud's relationship with his then-disciple Carl Jung, the building of the Manhattan Bridge, the early opponents to Freud's theories and the central problem posed by Hamlet's 'to be or not to be' soliloquy. While not as well crafted as Caleb Carr's similarly themed The Alienist, this well-researched and thought-provoking novel is sure to be a crowd pleaser. $500,000 marketing campaign; 15-city author tour. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Rubenfeld renders rich, complex characters, vivid period detail, and prose riddled with heady references to Hamlet." Booklist (Starred Review)

"[A] gloriously intelligent exploration of what might have happened to Sigmund Freud during his only visit to America....Rubenfeld...shows great talent for psychological suspense....[H]ighly recommended..." Library Journal

"Meaty and provocative, though also grandiose and calculated." Kirkus Reviews

"Readers who give this cerebral concoction even the slightest chance will be captivated by its myriad intrigues, its dubious cast of heroes and villains, and its palpable tension." Rocky Mountain News

"[L]ong on period atmosphere and heady discussions of the Oedipus complex, short on thriller-crafting horse sense....Rubenfeld has both smarts and an admirably depraved imagination, but he needs to learn creative restraint. (Grade: B-)" Entertainment Weekly

"Credit Mr. Rubenfeld with a smart, jocular approach to an elaborate undertaking....His book is a research-fueled, psycho-historical Shakespearean thriller with Da Vinci Code aspirations, and as such it is a bizarrely original hybrid." Janet Maslin, The New York Times

"[A] sprightly book that engages in an undemanding but handsome made-for-cable-movie sort of way....In other words, something has been accomplished, if hysterical ambition can be transformed into ordinary entertainment." Los Angeles Times

"[A] good deal of fun. This is a genre novel and it will reward well enough those who seek to bask for some pleasant hours in the formula of the historically grounded mystery." Chicago Tribune

"The novel is difficult to put down. Its ironclad, cliffhanger-rich, shooting-script structure makes it a page turner....But, as with a jaw-droppingly bad movie, just because it's riveting doesn't mean it's pleasurable." Ada Calhoun, The New York Times Book Review

"Given all the heady psychological and historical content, it is to Rubenfeld's credit that he still manages to propel the book along at a page-turner clip, without relying on the usual mystery formula." Dallas-Ft. Worth Star Telegram

"This is a bold page-turner that propels us from the star with with a driving plot and intriguing characters, but also with ideas — a whole history of ideas. It's a richly motivated thriller that will make you reconsider the mysteries of Freud and Hamlet. Here is a novel that you'll only want to put down in order to think more about the book." Matthew Pearl, author of The Dante Club

In this ingenious, suspenseful historical thriller, Sigmund Freud is drawn into the mind of a sadistic killer who is savagely attacking Manhattan's wealthiest heiresses.

Currently the Robert R. Slaughter Professor of Law at Yale University, Jed Rubenfeld is one of this country's foremost experts on constitutional law. As a Princeton undergraduate, he completed his thesis on Freud. At the Juilliard School, he studied Shakespeare. Rubenfeld lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with his wife and two children.