This book starts out strong, but then gets a bit slow as it continues. It is still a good story, which I enjoyed reading, but keep in mind this isn’t going to be a quick thriller that keeps you turning the pages as fast as you can to find out the twist, but rather a slower burn suspense novel that takes time to get where it ultimately goes.
A famous scientist, Vidor Kiraly, is receiving a major award, and while giving his acceptance speech, sees someone in the crowd who he seems to recognize, rushes out into the audience, and attacks this person. Dr. Anton Gessen, a psychiatrist who has a financially failing, remote clinic (asylum) in the Alps, offers to help him, and so Kiraly is shipped off to see if he can be treated or if he should be held criminally responsible for his actions.
There is some suspense, some romance, some mystery in this book, but ultimately, it is a book about our history, paths not taken, how close we all are (or potentially could be) to madness. It took me a couple of tries to start this book and then finally finish it, but I did enjoy it once I got into it. If literary suspense was its own separate genre, this would fit cleanly into it, but it’s not quite as tight a fit with thriller/suspense. The overlap of the histories and personalities of the two main characters was well done and while the ending might not have been completely satisfying, it fit the style and story.
Thank you to Legend Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. It has not influenced my opinion.