Darkness Rising

Darkness Rising is the fourth novel by Frank Tallis featuring the Viennese psychologist Max Liebermann and Detective Inspector Oskar Rheinhardt. A decapitated body is found outside one of Vienna's churches the head torn, not cut, from the body. Soon a second body is found in identical circumstances. Both men had publicly attacked the jews in newspaper articles. Are a Jewish group responsible? A third identical murder is discovered this time of a Jewish man. Is this retaliation? Rheinhardt and his superiors are fearful of an outbreak of civil disorder. Meanwhile Max Liebermann finds himself facing a threat to his position at the General Hospital as politicians use religion for their own ends. Like many educated people Liebermann rejects the mysticism of his Jewish background but finds himself confronted by it's modern exponents as he attempts to aid Rheinhardt in his investigation. This is the first of these novels where Tallis explores Liebermann's Jewish heritage and his dilemma as a rational scientific person in balancing this against his desire to be seen as just an Austrian citizen.