Sympathy Between Humans by
Jodi Compton
hbk out February 05
Published by Hodder
at £12.99
The second book about Sarah Pribek, a detective in Minneapolis, whose
husband is in prison for a crime he did not commit and Sarah herself is
under suspicion for a murder she did not commit. The book has three
separate plot-lines, one being her attempts to foil the over-keen DA who
is trying to nail her for the killing. The main strand is her involvement
with a strange family, after a 17-year old daughter of a stroke-ridden
writer comes for help in tracing her missing twin brother. Sarah gets more
and more involved and is appointed as a temporary guardian of the
family, which leads her into an investigation into their background which
ends in tragedy.
While all this is going on, she is sent by her boss to look into rumours of
an unlicensed doctor practising amongst the down-and-out population of
the city. She finds him and he turns out to be a paraplegic, struck-off
physician, with whom she forms a sexual relationship, difficult as that
might be and this also ends in tragedy for which she blames herself.
The theme of the book is of conflict between professional duty, ethics,
and compassion and is a thoughful, intelligent book which lifts it well
above the common run of police procedural novels. The writing is
excellent and perhaps more 'literary' than many whodunits - which is
not. It is not a happy, uplifting book and the main character comes across
as a lonely, somewhat introverted character, so don't start reading it on a
wet Monday morning.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
Sympathy Between Humans by
Jodi Compton
