The Death Instinct Book

I'm typically leery of books in the 450+ range - in my experience, few authors are able to pull it off without unnecessary padding/exposition. Jeb Rubenfeld's IS NOT one of them. When the Booklist reviewer wrote "But readers should prepare to wallow in the book and take it slowly" he wasn't kidding. And using "wallow" to describe a book isn't meant as a compliment.

I have to hand it to the author, taking a little known terrorist act from the 1920's was inventive. Rubenfeld is a decent writer and his historical research seems good; it's his storytelling I take issue with. The pacing was awful: he starts off with an explosion, followed by a kidnapping, a gallant rescue, then guts the pace by spending the better part of the first third of the book having Dr. Younger relate his meeting with the Rousseau woman to Det. Littlemore. All the momentum was bled out of the story. Add to that some superfluous interactions of the investigation and subplots (Luc's muteness, Rousseau's Hans? Please!) only served to kill the pace altogether. The tedium was so bad that I stopped short of finishing Part I to read another book. Once I finished that one, it was, "Oh well, I guess I should finish Instinct now..."

Next, Rubenfeld's characters. When Littlemore was regaling Younger & Collette with his powers of observation I thought, "What's he trying to do, a poor man's version of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson?" What's next? Describe them as Robert Downey Jr. & Jude Law? And although Ms. Collette was supposedly French, she displayed no affections of actually being French; she might as well have been Colette Rousseau of Poughkeepsie New York. I mean, for a French native her English was remarkably free of French vernacular, not even a "Mon Dieu!" when she narrowly avoids death. And I'm all for dark, edgy protagonists, but when Younger emotionlessly recalls slapping his wife around and almost forcing himself on Rousseau (to the point where she has to fend him off with a gun) I was put-off. Maybe it's my 20th century sensibilities, but I'm supposed to sympathize with this guy?

All these criticisms amount to a book & author I'd have trouble recommending. It's unfortunate because Death Instinct had the potential to be a standout novel: an unsolved crime, a great book cover, good prose...I think if someone had forced Rubenfeld to cut about 100 pages or so, it would have been a better book: more focused, less fluff. As it stands, it's overly long, has too many subplots, and meanders in too many places. I *might* (a very big might) consider another Rubenfeld book but ONLY if it's less than 350 pages. If he can show me that he can tighten up his plot, I'll put his name on my "to read" list.