JED RUBENFELD The Interpretation of Murder ***

I felt cheated by this book. It starts so well. It's like some TV 2-part dramas like 'Cracker', where the set-up is fantastic and the production values are amazingly high, but towards the end the demands of an increasingly silly plot take over.

The premise is good. It's a fact that Freud visited America in 1909. Rubenfeld has him and an American disciple investigate a murder and also an assault that leaves the victim unable to speak.

There's some interesting insight into Freudian psychology, into Freud's rift with Jung, and into life in Manhattan 100 years ago. There are also some very good bits of writing which make complex ideas very clear (and make the reader feel clever as a result). But then melodrama takes over. A shame.