Deadly Communion: (Liebermann Papers 5) - Softcover

"An interesting, intelligent and enjoyable read" (eurocrime.co.uk)

"[a] deliciously intricate thriller set in fin-de-siècle 19th-century Vienna...With this novel Tallis, a Harley Street clinical psychologist, confirms his place in the front rank of British thriller writers" (Daily Mail)

"cleverly done and never dull, with science and folklore neatly woven into a fascinating plot. This, together with well researched and wonderfully imagined period detail, make Deadly Communion a rich and riveting read" (Guardian)

"Tallis's writing still has the richness of literary fiction. And, as ever, it is the measured accretion of detail and atmosphere that really sells Tallis's charged narrative, as the reader is taken into the terrifying psyche of a murderer. In many ways, Deadly Communion is the most psychologically cohesive of the Max Liebermann outings, with the killer's motivation persuasively worked out within a historically accurate psychoanalytic framework." (Independent)

"A welcome addition to Tallis's series and his recurring protagonist continues to fascinate" (TLS)

A sexual predator is at large on the streets of Imperial Vienna and Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt appeals to his friend, psychoanalyst Dr. Max Liebermann, for assistance.

Early signs indicate that the killer is no ordinary 'lust murderer' but an entirely new phenomenon, his particular deviance revealing the darker preoccupations of the age.
To understand his behaviour, Liebermann must employ the latest developments in psychoanalysis and make a journey into uncharted regions of the human mind.

Alongside the unfolding of this disturbing case, Liebermann must treat his own patients, including a man who claims to have seen his double - the doppelganger of Germanic folklore - an experience believed to be an omen of death. As Liebermann discovers more about this seemingly harmless man, he becomes convinced that his hallucinations are caused by a traumatic memory, buried deep in his unconscious. Could a mysterious dream hold the key?

As the investigations proceed, Liebermann and Rheinhardt find themselves drawn into the worlds of art and couture, worlds in which glamorous appearances mask the most sinister secrets.