Anna O Sparkles and Thrills

 

 

 

 

Anna O (2024)

By Matthew Blake

Harper, 421 pages (seems shorter than that!)

★★★★★

 

You might recall from a psychology course that Anna O was the case that led Sigmund Freud to develop his theories of psychoanalysis. Freud never actually met  Anna O, her real name being Anna Pappenheim (1853-1936); she was a patient of Freud’s mentor Josef Breuer, in the years 1880-82, but Freud was fascinated with the case. Anna O became to poster child for hysteria and exhibited symptoms such as eating and speech disorders, vision problems, headaches, partial paralysis, hallucinations, and amnesia. The question Breuer did not probe to Freud’s satisfaction was the root cause of Anna’s illness. Freud famously (and controversially) linked it to frustrated sexual desire.

 

Novelist Matthew Blake updated and altered the case in his stunning mystery/thriller Anna O. Forensic psychologist Ben(edict) Prince has been working in a quiet private residency clinic in London, where he, with the help of mentor Virginia Bloom, became an expert on sleepwalking and a frequent court witness. His life is about to become more interesting intellectually and traumatic politically and emotionally. This novel has all the twists, turnabouts, danger, and enigma of a Dan Brown book, though Blake is a far better literary stylist.

 

Much of the book is set in the early 21^st century. Ben is divorced from his wife Clara and has limited contact with his daughter Kitty. For good and ill, this gives him plenty of time to become a workaholic. He and the clinic are approached by the Ministry of Justice to take on a patient about whom they can say nothing and must swear to abide by the Official Secrecy Act. She is Anna Ogilvy–code-named “Anna O”–who has been asleep for four years. She is the presumed murderess of her two friends, Indira and Douglas. Just before the big sleep (!), Anna found them in pools of blood and a dripping knife in her hand. She left a distressed message saying, “I think I killed them.” She also had a motive: the two were conspiring to wrest control of a magazine Anna started and squeeze her out of a deal to sell it to a larger firm. Open and shut case? Not quite. Her mother Emily Ogilvy is  a former Minister of State for Mental Health. Plus, Ben’s task goes against the grain. Doctors are supposed to cure people, but his marching order is to wake her up any way possible so that she can be put on trial for murder.

 

It seemed odd logic at the time. Why intervene in the murder of two unknowns with no connection to state security? Plus, Anna has been diagnosed as having “resignation syndrome," a form of amnesia mixed with mental illness. Wouldn’t this make an awakened Anna innocent by reason of insanity? (In legalese, to be guilty of a crime the prosecution must prove both actus reus, a criminal action, and mens rea, intent to commit it.) Are politics at play more than state security? Maybe. Years earlier Britain was convulsed by horrific killings, including the infamous “Stockwell Monster” case in which Sally Turner murdered her two stepsons. Is there some sort of connection? Not that Ben can determine, nor Clara, a police detective, who discovered and investigated the deaths of Indira and Douglas. It is to shut up the tittering conspiracy nuts?

Will Ben awaken Anna? I’d be a spoilsport to tattle. Suffice it to say that Anna’s disposition and mystery serves mainly to unlock others. Don’t fall asleep (joke intended) as you will find out about Anna roughly three-quarters of the way through, and Blake has just gotten started throwing deflecting blows before he delivers the knockout punch. Among the things that must be resolved are multiple identities (most not in the psychological sense), a drug nicknamed Devil’s Breath, implanted false memory syndrome, a massive conspiracy, the role of Internet trolls, a leaked secret, a tell-all memoir, Ben’s arrest, more code names, maternity mysteries, and a dish of revenge served so cold you’ll need gloves to turn the pages.

 

I adored this book and was indeed chilled by its revelations. I read a lot of mysteries, but few are as intelligent, complex, and detailed as Anna O. Time management warning: “I couldn’t put it down” is a phrase so shopworn it’s trite. Nonetheless, I zipped through all 421 pages in just three sittings during one of my busiest weeks in years. I missed enough sleep to be a suspect in Anna O.

 

Rob Weir