Customer Reviews

In the Last Analysis

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This novel is entertaining, but has a great many flaws. It is supposed to be the first Fansler novel, yet none of the characters are properly introduced. Kate's final analysis of the murder is tenuous and based on nothing. There is no way an ADA and a uniformed police officer can just go to a doctor's office and get him to show them his spinal fusion scars. I am glad the series has immproved since then.

This is the first book in the highly acclaimed Kate Fansler series. Maybe you just had to be part of the '60s intelligentsia to appreciate this book, but I thought it was boring and pretentious. I was also extremely disappointed with the last-minute solution that the sleuth just seemed to pull out of thin air.

Usually I like Kate Fansler: she's an intelligent, logical woman whose wit and academic background add much to a mystery novel. But even Kate's character couldn't transcend this dullish plot and improbable ending (I mean, after all, how do you get a man you have only met a couple of times to take off his clothes and show you the scar on his spine?). And to base the conclusion of a novel on that artifice is neither believable or satisfying in a logical sense.

Althought this is the first in her Kate Fansler series, it is the second that I have read. If I had read this book first, I probably would not be inclined to continue with this series. I felt like I was just dropped into the middle of a cast of characters without being properly introduced to them and what their roles are (history, etc.). The one thing that seems to be consistent is Cross' habit of long sentences infused with prepositional phrases and lots of words like however, therefore, etc. I realize the protagonist is an English professor, and I don't have any problem understanding the sentences, but I find myself getting impatient having to wade through all that excess just to get to the point of a sentence. (Luckily the only time the reader has to deal with that is when Kate is talking.) At this point, I have to say this series is not a high priority on my reading list.

Psychiatry, psychologists, Freud, process, theory. "I didn't say I objected to Freud, " Kate said. "I said I objected to what Joyce called freudful errors - all those nonsensical conclusions leaped to by people with no reticence and less mind."