Vienna Blood

US: Century, 2006. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. The second in the Dr. Max Liebermann series, literature's first psychoanaly tic detective. In the grip of a Siberian winter in 1902, a serial killer in Vienna embarks upon a bizarre campaign of murder. Vicious mutilation, a penchant for arca ne symbols, and a seemingly random choice of victim are his most distinctiv e peculiarities. Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt summons a young disci ple of Freud - his friend Dr. Max Liebermann -- to assist him with the case . The investigation draws them into the sphere of Vienna's secret societies -- a murky underworld of German literary scholars, race theorists, and sci entists inspired by the new evolutionary theories coming out of England. At first, the killer's mind seems impenetrable -- his behaviour and cryptic c lues impervious to psychoanalytic interpretation; however, gradually, it be comes apparent that an extraordinary and shocking rationale underlies his a ctions. . . . Against this backdrop of mystery and terror, Liebermann struggles with his own demons. The treatment of a patient suffering from paranoia erotica (a d elusion of love) and his own fascination with the enigmatic Englishwoman Am elia Lydgate raises doubts concerning the propriety of his imminent marriag e. To resolve the dilemma, he must entertain the unthinkable -- risking opp robrium and accusations of cowardice. From the Trade Paperback edition.