Customer Reviews

Sympathy Between Humans

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sympathy Between Humans is Jodi Compton's second novel and is the sequel to The 37th Hour, reintroducing us to Hennepin County Sheriff's Department Detective Sarah Pribek. The events of the previous book are still hanging over Sarah's head as the story opens with a quick recap bringing those who hadn't read the first book up to speed.

A couple of unrelated, yet deeply absorbing cases dominate the book. The first begins when Marlinchen Hennessey walks in to Sarah's office. She has the type of story that has been heard numerous times before by numerous police around the world. Marlinchen's 17 year old twin brother, Aidan, has gone missing. There's nothing unusual in that, but then she goes on to reveal that not only has he been missing for two months, but he was living in Georgia at the time.

Being a busy cop, Sarah has also been given the job of locating someone who has been practicing medicine without a license. Her task is to use her contacts to find the phony doctor and shut him down before he causes some real damage. Finding him isn't a problem, not becoming emotionally involved with a caring man who is obviously a terrific doctor but is denied the right to practice because of a silly mistake? Yep, now that's a problem.

Finally, there's the little matter of the other shoe dropping, and it looks as though it will come in the form of an internal investigation. Just what Sarah needs is the distraction of some very pointed questions and a forensic investigation taking place with her as the subject under the microscope.

From the moment the book opens with Sarah diving into a dirty storm-water drain to save some young boys to her heroics later on, there is barely time to draw breath. Yet Sarah still has time to suffer a debilitating illness, carry on a lightning-fast (although completely unrealistic and out of place) affair and generally get the stuffing knocked out of herself.

Piled on top of the some character analysis, Compton hits us with a multitude of plot twists at the end that will, if you're anything like me, have you reeling with one closely following the other. There is a risk of over-loading the senses with too many shocks in too short a time, but it's definitely a book that will remain with you long after you've finished. I think Jodi Compton has surpassed her excellent debut with a compelling second book in Sympathy Between Humans.

"Sympathy Between Humans" cuts to the bone of police work. Hennepin County Sheriff's Deputy Sarah Pribek has more on her plate than she can deal with:

Her husband, Mike Shiloh, is in jail in Wisconsin for stealing a car which he was going to use in the commission of a revenge murder "Shorty" who'd raped and killed a friend's (and Sarah's former partner's) teenage daughter.

Sarah herself is under suspicion of actually killing "Shorty."

Despite not being the motherly type, Sarah's gotten guardianship of a family of five children whose famous author father is incapacitated by a stroke. Her first exposure to the family was when Marlinchen, the eldest daughter, came to Sarah to help her find her missing brother, who'd been given away by their father to a family friend in Georgia. Marlinchen's brother, Aidan, eventually shows up and the mystery around him grows stronger. The family is not what they seem and the further she digs, the more dark secrets she uncovers.

Finally, she's asked to investigate an unlicensed physician operating out of the local housing projects. Can she actually bust a man who turns out to be doing so much good in the projects?

Sarah's choices change the destiny of several people, including her own. Sarah's going to have to face some ugly parts of her past--and potentially troublesome future in the next installations of her series.

What I like most about Jodi Compton's work is that it's very realistic police procedural. No one doing any kind of casework gets things done in a linear fashion. Deputy Pribek is constantly shifting from one hot issue to another with various incidentals thrown in.

'Sympathy Between Humans" is a tough book to read, but a strongly impressive one. Jodi Compton is definitely an author to watch in the future.

I have read and liked hundreds of books over the years, and several that I have not liked. This in the first time I have felt motivated to write a favorable review. I read and liked The 37th Hour, so when Sympathy Between Humans came out I bought and read it. I will not give a plot summary, as that is readily available elsewhere. Ms. Compton has written a book that really moves along, and that at the same time has excellent character development. I felt that she really put me in the shoes of the protagonist. As the book progressed I was concerned that it could not have a satisfactory ending without being totally contrived. (By satisfactory I do not mean that everyone lives "happily ever after". I simply mean that I can finish the book feeling very glad that I read it.) Ms. Compton concluded the book in a realistic and satisfactory manner. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Jodi Compton has avoided the sophomore slump with "Sympathy Between Humans," her second novel featuring Detective Sarah Pribek. Pribek, a tough-as-nails woman who has had a hard life, is the first-person narrator. Her father was a truck driver who sent Sarah to live with an aunt when Sarah's mother died of cancer. During her adolescent years, Sarah eased her emotional pain with liquor and even suffered alcoholic blackouts. What saved her from self-destruction was her decision to become cop in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

Now Sarah is a relatively new detective whose husband, Shiloh, is in a Wisconsin prison. I advise you to read Compton's first book, "The 37th Hour," before this one to get the full picture of how Shiloh landed in jail. In "Sympathy Between Humans," Sarah tackles a puzzling missing persons case. A young man named Aidan Hennessy has disappeared and his twin sister, seventeen-year-old Marlinchen, begs Sarah to track him down. When Sarah agrees to help, she finds out that underneath the wholesome façade of the Hennessy family is a complex web of lies and deceit. In addition, Sarah is under suspicion for the murder of Royce Stewart (this plot is also covered in Compton's first book) and an aggressive new investigator, Gray Diaz, is anxious to nail Sarah for the crime. Most intriguing of all, Sarah gets emotionally involved with a wheelchair-bound doctor named Cicero who helps indigent patients in a housing project.

I love the multi-layered character of Sarah Pribek. She thinks nothing of risking her life by jumping into an filthy drainage canal to save a drowning boy, but she is terrified of going to a doctor's office to treat a simple ear infection. She cares for her husband, Shiloh, but she is reluctant to talk to him about her feelings. Sarah is a dogged and sharp investigator who is tough on criminals, but she is not above taking the law into her own hands to insure that justice is done.

Jodi Compton pulls no punches. She shows people behaving both selfishly and courageously, and she explores the beauty and ugliness of life with intelligence, insight, and understanding. Compton knows that truth is rarely black and white, and she fearlessly explores the shades of gray.

My one quibble is that Compton unwisely concludes her book with four major plot twists when one or two would have been more than enough. This flashy, over-the-top ending is exciting and unexpected, but it is also unrealistic and out-of-sync with the nuanced character development that makes the rest of the book so engrossing. Still, I enjoyed "Sympathy Between Humans," and I consider Jodi Compton to be one of the best new suspense writers to come along in recent years.

SYMPATHY BETWEEN HUMANS has several distinct storylines. One is the investigation into the death of the rapist at the end of THE 37TH HOUR. Sarah is under suspicion and a determined D.A. investigator is keen to make an arrest. In another storyline Sarah investigates a man in a housing project who practices medicine without a license. She seeks medical advice to trap him, but instead of arresting him, she ends up befriending him. In yet another storyline, Sarah is asked by 17 year-old Marlinchen Hennessy to find her twin brother Aidan who has not lived with the family for five years. He lived with a family friend, but has not been heard from for several weeks. Marlinchen's mother is dead and her father, a once famous author, has had a stroke. Sarah becomes a court-ordered guardian to the Marlinchen and her three brothers who live at home. As Sarah probes into the Hennessy background she stumbles on more secrets and deceit than she thought exisisted.

The second novel by Jodi Compton starts a few months after her first novel THE 37TH HOUR leaves off. I highly recommend that they be read in order, which is no sacrifice since both are excellent books. Sarah is a bit of an emotional mess due to the culmination of twists in the first book. Sarah does straddle the lines of moral versus ethical boundaries within the confines of being a police detective. This book was one of the best books I have read in awhile: fast -paced, suspenseful, and very hard to put down.

Jodi Compton came quite literally out of nowhere in 2004 with THE 37th HOUR, a dark novel of secrets, revenge, and rough but appropriate justice. A number of questions were left unresolved at its close, making SYMPATHY BETWEEN HUMANS, its nominal sequel, a highly anticipated follow-up. It does not disappoint, and in some ways it exceeds the expectations raised by its predecessor.

While SYMPATHY BETWEEN HUMANS stands fine on its own, I would strongly recommend reading THE 37th HOUR first. This hardly will be a sacrifice. The book, which introduces Minneapolis police officer Sarah Pribek, is incredibly well-written and knowing what came before will enhance enjoyment of this latest work. The novels join together almost as if they were one long story separated by bindings; my impression after reading them was that they were in fact originally written as one. Each work has its own strengths, however, and SYMPATHY BETWEEN HUMANS does not rely on THE 37th HOUR as its reason for existence. Compton keeps things moving quite nicely from the first page, creating three separate plotlines --- one dealing with unresolved matters left over from THE 37th HOUR and two new ones.

The major unresolved issue from THE 37th HOUR is the pall of suspicion cast over Pribek with respect to the murder of Royce Stewart. While Pribek did not do the deed, she was present at the occurrence and certainly complicit in the subsequent cover-up. The investigation into Stewart's murder seems to have faded quietly away until Grey Diaz, a Faribault County District Attorney, emerges. Faribault County is the locus of Stewart's death. While Stewart was a waste of skin, Diaz, stuck in a quiet position with time on his hands and ambition in his heart, appears on the scene and begins pursuing Pribek as a likely suspect.

Compton creates an extremely interesting situation here. THE 37th HOUR closed with the readers knowing that Pribek looked to be the primary suspect, so that the publication of SYMPATHY BETWEEN HUMANS comes with its own sense of urgency. But Compton does not let the book coast on this lone plotline. Pribek becomes involved in what appears to be the case of a runaway teenager. As is the case throughout the novel, however, there is more here than is evident at first blush. During the course of her investigation, Pribek uncovers a mystery and a secret that has lain dormant for several years. There are elements of gothic mystery here, surprisingly so, and Compton puts this plotline to good use as a contrast to the other professional and personal elements of Pribek's life.

Additionally, and perhaps most significantly, Pribek is assigned to investigate the rumor of an unlicensed individual practicing medicine in an impoverished area of Minneapolis. She is able to identify the individual --- Cicero Ruiz --- fairly quickly but does not arrest him and, in fact, stalls the investigation. The passages concerning Pribek's involvement with Ruiz illustrate the extent of Compton's literary craftsmanship. Pribek is a flawed, damaged soul who makes decisions that often are steeped in confusion. Yet the reader understands precisely why Pribek acts as she does with Ruiz as much by what is not said as by what is. Compton accordingly demonstrates not only a faith in her own talent but also a respect for her reader. If one of the major rules of writing is "show, don't tell," in these passages Compton reveals the outline of the bump behind the curtain in the darkened room of Ruiz and Pribek's uneasy, flawed relationship.

SYMPATHY BETWEEN HUMANS ends, as does its predecessor, with some unresolved issues. Whether these will be addressed by Compton in a future novel or consigned to the reader's imagination remains to be seen. What is certain, however, is that Compton, in the short space of two novels, has become a major literary voice to be reckoned with. Very highly recommended.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

The victim was low life Royce Stewart who got away with the rape and murder of Kamareia, the daughter of a Hennepin County, Minnesota sheriff officer, on a technicality. Seven months later Royce was found murdered. The case was not solved although Detective Sarah Pribek knows who the killer is. Most suspect either Sarah did it for her former partner, Kamareia's mother or Sarah's former spouse ex Minneapolis detective Shiloh did it.

Sarah knows if she admits the truth she can be held for obstruction of justice, but though there is heightened interest thanks to the media and a glory hound DA, Sarah heeds the plea of teenage Marlinchen Hennessy, daughter of a famous novelist, whose twin brother Aidan has been missing for five years, but ignored by police. Though not her case, the background information feels close to home so Sarah does some preliminary inquiries and quickly learns that Marlinchen has hidden much of what she knows about her sibling's disappearance. She soon finds herself into the middle of a dangerous dysfunctional family powder keg that she could end up being the igniting factor.

SYMPATHY BETWEEN HUMANS is a strong police procedural that brings home the message that justice is neither simple nor blind. The story line works on two levels with questions about the Stewart murder lingering in the background while supporting the prime efforts of Sarah to learn what happened to Aidan. Sarah is a terrific heroine planning not to implicate anyone in Royce's death though her peers figure she provided the blue revenge. Jodi Compton writes a strong thriller that will send readers seeking Sarah's previous appearance (see 37th HOUR).

Harriet Klausner

Jodi Compton has toned up her plotting skills in Sympathy Between Humans, the sequel to her debut novel, The 37th Hour. In 37th, protagonist Detective Sarah Pribeck embarked on a search for her missing husband, only two months after their marriage. It becomes evident that his disappearance is connected to the murder of her partner's daughter. Although the murderer got off on a technicality, his later death in an arson fire remains an open case. As Sympathy opens, her husband has been imprisoned for his part in that investigation, and her partner, brokenhearted, has taken herself off to Europe. Now Sarah is struggling to adjust to life without the two most important individuals in her life, and, although she knows who wreaked vengeance on the murderer, she keeps that knowledge to herself, even when it happens that she's now the prime suspect.

Delving into her work to help keep her loneliness at bay, Sarah is approached by a teenage girl, asking her to find her missing twin brother, Aiden Hennessy. As her investigation progresses, she becomes increasingly perplexed by the circumstances of the Hennessy family, which, in surprising ways, remind Sarah of her own disjointed upbringing. She's also assigned to investigate a doctor practicing without a license. Juggling her loneliness, her memories, her status as a suspect, and these two cases challenge Sarah's beliefs and principles.

Author Compton's strength lies in her ability to create multidimensional characters who grapple with problems familiar to us all. The lines between legal and moral right, wrong, and justice are often blurry, and one of Sympathy's main themes deals with that complexity. Where is there room for compassion? What exactly is justice? There is no black or white, and Sarah must find a way to do her job without compromising her belief system. Ms. Compton skillfully brings these cases to satisfying, though not "happily ever after" conclusions, while leaving her readers eager to discover where Sarah goes next.

I've read both this and "The 37th Hour", and I really, really, like this author. These books have a distinctly different voice to them- I read a lot of mysteries, thrillers, suspense, police procedurals, etc., and after a while, you can pretty much guess what will happen every step of the way. Not with these books, though- and the lead character is very well written, too. No cliches here, and I couldn't put them down. I'll be anxiously awaiting the next installment!

I wrote a lukewarm review of Jodi Compton's first novel, The 37th Hour, which I felt was well written but light on plot. I'm happy to say this sequel is a vast improvement. With her dreary husband Shiloh now banged up (which, for those of you who don't know, is English slang for in prison) Sarah has become a much more interesting and less introverted character. She doesn't do a huge amount of detection but the three different storylines are engrossing and thought-provoking. I'm looking forward to the third in the series, although I have a horrible suspicion that Shiloh will reappear.