The Death Instinct

The Death Instinct

by Jed Rubenfeld

Riverside/Penguin, 2011. 464 pgs. Fiction

Well before the Oklahoma City bombings and the 9/11 attacks, Wall Street was attacked by terrorists on September 16, 1920. A wagon filled with shrapnel and explosives detonated shortly after noon, killing thirty-eight people and wounding many more. In Rubenfeld's crackling good yarn, Detective Jimmy Littlemore of the NYPD and Dr. Stratham Younger, war veteran and former student of Sigmund Freud, are on site when the bomb goes off along with a beautiful young French woman, Colette Rousseau, a student of Marie Curie. Littlemore immediately begins an investigation which quickly runs counter to official explanations; Younger falls in love with Colette and is kept hopping when several people try to kill her. Though the original case of the Wall Street bombings was never solved, Rubenfeld comes up with a credible explanation thanks to the legwork and brainpower of Littlemore and Younger. Suspense, romance, and a wry humor enliven these pages. The book is longish but I doubt anyone will want to set it aside too frequently before reaching the end. A fine history and a fine mystery.

LW