This was a good vacation read. Nothing fancy, just solid writing, fantastic period detail and good pacing. The story never slowed down, not even on the parts that I didn't really enjoy.

I enjoy a good who-done-it. And this has a very satisfying twist to it and a great "reveal" of the why, when, where, etc.

The hook of the book is that Sigmund Freud himself has been called in to help solve some murders in New York City. The story is based on enough fact to make it really enjoyable. Much like some of the characters in Caleb Carr's "The Alienest". But then the Freud connection was one of the parts that I enjoyed least. The story/mystery was strong enough to stand on its own, without all of the psychoanalysis babble going on. At first, it was fun and I learned some neat things. But then when the characters start arguing with themselves over trying to diagnose murderers and motives. It got a little slow. So I skimmed much of the psychology stuff.

And then there is Hamlet. The main character in this book has a fetish for Hamlet. I was amazed that with all of the brutal beatings and killings going on, the main character was never so excited that he couldn't take time to dwell on Hamlet. I mean people are getting killed and this guy was wondering why no one has figured out what Hamlet's mom was thinking the day her husband died? I'm being a bit of a so and so here, but I really could have done without the Hamlet stuff.
But, I imagine a lot of readers will enjoy the connections made.

Overall, a good read during a vacation, but not one I could sustain over a few weeks while reading at night. Not sure I could stay interested enough.