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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"We are battling a powerful enemy.", January 19, 2009
This review is from: The Empty Mirror (Hardcover)
"The Empty Mirror," by J. Sydney Jones, is set in Vienna in the summer of 1898. Lawyer Karl Werthen has been bored since he abandoned criminal law six years earlier to specialize in estates and trusts. His life is about to take an unexpected turn as a result of a series of tragic events. An apparent madman has killed five people, both male and female, in the past two months. He mutilated his victims and dumped their bodies in Vienna's Prater amusement park. The police suspect the painter Gustav Klimt of the crimes, since the fifth victim was one of his young and beautiful models. Werner agrees to represent the painter, and in addition, he asks his friend, Hanns Gross, a renowned criminologist, to help investigate the crimes. Unsurprisingly, the two men decide to play sleuth, tracking down leads, interviewing witnesses, and placing themselves in grave danger as they edge ever closer to the truth.
Jones knows Vienna intimately, and he provides colorful details about the culture, architecture, cuisine, and history of this fascinating world capital at the turn of the century. He enjoys name-dropping, inserting such luminaries as Theodor Herzel, Mark Twain, and psychiatrist Krafft-Ebing into the narrative. Unfortunately, the dense plot becomes ever more turgid as the novel progresses, and the aforementioned luminaries are shoe-horned into the story rather than inserted seamlessly. Red herrings abound, leading us to believe that the killings could be the work of an anti-Semite, an anarchist, or someone else with a hidden agenda. By the time the red herrings are disposed of and the puzzle solved, most readers will have lost interest.
Werthen and Gross are an odd couple. The former is a man of means who has been trained by his parents to hide his Jewish roots and behave like an Austrian gentleman. Gross is a Catholic, an intellectual, an author, and a professor, whose eccentricities Karl finds alternately endearing and irritating. The hyperkinetic Gross drags Karl along on an adventure that will lead them to a deadly confrontation with a cunning and ruthless adversary. "The Empty Mirror" has stilted dialogue, minimal suspense, a tepid romance (Werthen meets a young woman with whom he immediately falls in love), and too much background information about the power struggles within the Austrian Empire. For a more intriguing and better-constructed mystery, try "Vienna Blood" by Frank Tallis.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Bland prose with occasional spates of excellence, April 22, 2009
This review is from: The Empty Mirror (Hardcover)
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J. Sydney Jones, a talented author, tells the story of earnest lawyer Werthen and the occasionally quirky but brilliant criminologist Gross on the trail of a very tricky serial killer in turn-of-the-century Vienna. The story opens in a rather familar way -- a prologue describes a young woman walking alone in the night who is frightened. She turns to see who is following her, says "hello" as if she knows the man, and then, we are to understood, is killed. Werthen and Gross form an unlikely partnership that spans several years as they attempt to delve into this and several other deaths. Naturally things take a political turn with a mysterious assassination and various machinations that slow down the duo but do not, of course, stop them. Gustav Klimt, the famous Viennese author appears and reappears in this story as do a few other historical characters of note and we are treated to very detailed descriptions of Viennese streets, foods, and drinks. Unfortunately the prose turns especially bland at these moments. When I saw on the back cover that Jones also writes travel guides, this made more sense to me.
Werthen and Gross became for me almost interchangable in this story -- despite their different backgrounds and I think this is because their "banter" is so heavy and expository. Jones may be trying to go for a Sherlock Holmes and Watson approach, but it simply isn't working here, perhaps partially because of the anonymity of Gross and Werthen.
The plot is interesting -- although decidedly complex -- and Jones seems to know the period and locale well. Still, in the end, I found myself losing interest in the narrative -- perhaps I wanted more at stake for the heroes or to worry about Werthen does become a bit more passionately engaged towards the end of the book when he fears that a young woman is in danger but it took a long time to reach this point in the book.
I don't recommend against this one -- I am sure it will be to some readers' tastes. But I would suggest reading the book's first chapter or so before purchasing -- just to get a feel for the prose.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Vienna Reflections, March 20, 2009
This review is from: The Empty Mirror (Hardcover)
Fin-de-Siecle Vienna shines in J. Sydney Jones' historical thriller, "The Empty Mirror" as do his Holmesian and Watsonian duo, real-life father of criminology, Hanns Gross, and his younger colleague, the fictitious lawyer Karl Werthen. The two are brought together when Werthen confers with the esteemed Gross to discover evidence to clear his client, Secessionist artist and notorious roué, Gustav Klimt, of the murder of none other than the model of Klimt's `Nuda Veritas.' The comely strawberry blonde posing nude while holding a mirror to urge the observer to compare his/her appearance with that of the truth is the last of a series of five seemingly ritual killings where the nose of the victim has been sliced off and the body dumped in the famous Prater Amusement Park, former hunting ground of the Hapsburgs and home of the Reisenrad, the city's giant Ferris Wheel.
Now, Jones' pre-police procedural, set in a time period that pre-empts the study of criminal modus operandi, could have been just an interesting 19th century clone of `Silence of the Lambs.' We all know the drill: a nasty serial killer psychologically toys with those involved in an investigation rife with governmental injustice, red herrings and human failings. This is not the case here. This tale has its villains that Jones sets in his piece like a master jeweler positioning baguettes to showcase his most magnificent stone. Enmeshed in historic events and speculative rumor revolving around whatever fads the time generated: Jewish assimilation, secret societies, royal assignations, political machinations and outright malicious gossip, Jones' plotline feeds off the romance of fin-de-siecle Vienna like a spinster maid-of-honor coveting that glittering solitaire. In an era of great psychological speculation where Freud's talking cure switches one's perspective to look inwardly at the screen of the mind where pleasure and sensation furnish the ultimate goal, the crown jewel of Vienna flourishes with all the art, music and philosophy that such intellectual fodder helps foster. Jones' knowing third person voice provides the reader with an insider's vantage point of the bustling background scene camouflaging the aging Hapsburg Empire, complete with portrayals of intriguing historical personages and gemutlich coffee house chatter. His familiarity with the city and its history enhances the plot with such local color and imagination that Klimt's vibrant and fascinating decorative swirls, gold foil accents and fields of poppy backdrops almost pale in comparison.
Equally entertaining are Jones' characterization of the historically notable Viennese of the period. After viewing John Malkovitch's deer-in-the-headlights effeteness in Raul Ruiz's 2006 film, "Klimt," I was pleased by Jones' depiction of a passionate bear of a man, half nonconformist bravado and half working class loyalty with a penchant for drawing his women naked first and then adding their clothing. Hanns Gross, one of the staring investigators, reeks with old world propriety, but longs to implement his crime-solving tools and reap the benefits of colleague respect. Richard von Krafft-Ebing, responsible for popularizing psychiatry and coining the words, masochism and sadism, provides consultation for the two pioneer detectives widening the focus of the scope from Vienna with repercussions that effect the entire Empire.
Bottom Line? Novelist J. Sidney Jones waltzes through the world of fin-de-siecle Vienna with all the finesse of a Strauss waltz. A brutal murder involving one of artist Gustav Klimt's models springboards the worthy collaboration of pioneer criminologist Hanns Gross and lawyer Karl Werthen. As the team investigates the circumstances involving the crime, the implications evolve into an affair that impacts the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire. Jones' love of Vienna is evidenced by the ease in which he depicts his locale and the colorful historical characters that live within it. After such intense development, Jones' ending may seem a little rushed. Nonetheless it all makes sense and reads well. Recommended.
Diana Faillace Von Behren
"reneofc"
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