I was a bit disappointed. I thought the weaving in of the Freud/Jung stuff felt clunky and a bit tedious, and the murder plot a bit hammy - it was like it was trying to be a literary novel and a really pulpy page turning crime thriller at the same time and didn't quite pull either off. I also thought the bit at the end where the detective reveals the ins and outs of the plot was so complicated it was like a spoof Marple story. I mean, it's a long book and i finished it, so it definitely kept me engaged but I just didn't think it really worked. Oh, also, I thought a lot of the characterisation was quite poor.

That all sounds a bit moany, but there we go, it's what I thought...

I didn't like it. It had a lot of publicity but it really didn't live up to it. I don't think I would read any more of his books.

I'm reading The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon at the moment though and loving that. (Also murder plot and literary)

OK, I'll look out for that, because I like literary and I like crime fiction! The one thing I did like was the social history that came through - the backdrop of turn of the century New York was interesting esp as there's a lot around about America at the moment so it all fed in to a bit of a history lesson for me. But yeah, I actually don't think it's a very good book at all and like you wouldn't bother with him again.

I'd really looked forward to it and then was disappointed. I just thought he'd done a lot of research about buildings and so on and was determined to show it off; even if that meant having lots of boring bits. And I didn't warm to the characters and thought it was all a bit contrived too.

I agree, it was over researched and he wanted to show off his research and his knowledge about Freud etc, but his actual fiction was weak and didn't fit with the research - there were bits that felt too dull and factual and bits that felt too far fetched and no one to empathise with.