Sympathy Between Humans (Hardcover)

by Jodi Compton (Author) "It was late afternoon on Spain's Atlantic coast, the sun turning golden in the lower layers of atmosphere over the water..." (more)
Key Phrases: county detective, Hugh Hennessy, Detective Pribek, Blue Earth (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Sarah Pribek, a Minneapolis missing persons detective, is under suspicion. Investigated but not yet charged in the arson murder of the man who raped and killed her best friend's daughter, she's protecting the identity of the real perpetrator, even though a zealous prosecutor is closing in and threatening to indict her. With her husband in jail in Wisconsin for a crime related to the same case (only alluded to briefly here, but fully explicated in The 37th Hour, the first in the series featuring Pribek), the detective finds herself involved in two other assignments where the line between justice and the law is also murky. When the eldest daughter of reclusive novelist Hugh Hennessy enlists her aid in finding the twin brother mysteriously sent away by her father several years earlier, Sarah agrees to investigate, even though there's no indication that Aidan Hennessy left his last foster home except of his own volition, and as far as Sarah can detrermine, the 17-year-old has committed no crimes. When the elder Hennessy is felled by a stroke, Sarah finds herself appointed as temporary guardian of his children, at least until Marlinchen, the daughter, comes of age and can be appoointed their guardian and Hugh's conservator. And the more time Sarah spends with the family, the more certain she is that Aidan isn't who he and his siblings think he is, although she's reluctant to add to the family's travails by seeking the evidence to support her hunch.

She's just as hesitant to make an arrest in her other case--that of a charismatic quadriplegic suspected of practicing medicine illegally. Sarah's relationship with Cisco Ruiz is a complex one, and in the telling of it, Compton brings into sharp relief the moral quandaries that challenge her protagonist. This is a well-plotted mystery with characters who resonate in the reader's consciousness long after the last page is turned, intelligently plotted and deftly crfafted. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly
As Compton's first-rate sequel to her impressive debut (The 37th Hour) begins, Minneapolis detective Sarah Pribek of the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department struggles to forget the incident that left her ex-partner in exile in Europe and her husband in prison. Unsentimental, often unyielding, Pribek works her cases: playing decoy for vice, saving the life of a drowning immigrant boy, tracking down a doctor practicing without a license and making inquiries about a teenage girl's runaway twin brother, all while an ambitious district attorney, among others, believes that Pribek, not her husband, killed rapist-murderer Royce Stewart. Like the first Pribek novel, this is more than a simple police procedural, despite its "just the facts" narrative. Parallels between the life of the missing boy and the detective's own adolescence prompt painful memories, while Pribek's evolving relationship with the unlicensed doctor, a wheelchair-bound tenement hero far more attractive and complicated than her informant suggested, prompts her to re-examine the limitations of the law. This multilayered, touching tale of crimes and misdemeanors prompts reader and detective alike to calculate "the mathematics of the human psyche." If it only occasionally achieves the emotional impact of its predecessor, it confirms without a doubt that Compton is a gifted creator of flawed, believable characters—foremost among them her hard-nosed, warmhearted detective.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; 1st THUS edition (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385337140
• ISBN-13: 978-0385337144
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #546,536 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sarah Pribek Gives Her All, March 26, 2005

By	Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even better than her first novel..., May 29, 2005

By	R. Kyle (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting, April 12, 2005

By	Stephen J. Tillman (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.