A spellbinding literary thriller about terror, war, greed, and the darkestsecrets of the human soul, by the author of the million-copy bestseller TheInterpretation of Murder.Under a clear blue September sky, America's financial center in lowerManhattan became the site of the largest, deadliest terrorist attack in thenation's history. It was September 16, 1920. Four hundred people werekilled or injured. The country was appalled by the magnitude and savageryof the incomprehensible attack, which remains unsolved to this day.The bomb that devastated Wall Street in 1920 explodes in the opening pagesof The Death Instinct, Jed Rubenfeld's provocative and mesmerizing newnovel. War veteran Dr. Stratham Younger and his friend Captain JamesLittlemore of the New York Police Department are caught on Wall Street onthe fateful day of the blast. With them is the beautiful Colette Rousseau,a French radiochemist whom Younger meets while fighting in the world war. Aseries of inexplicable attacks on Rousseau, a secret buried in her past,and a mysterious trail of evidence lead Young, Littlemore, and Rousseau ona thrilling international and psychological journey-from Paris to Prague,from the Vienna home of Dr. Sigmund Freud to the corridors of power inWashington, D.C., and ultimately to the hidden depths of our most savageinstincts. As the seemingly disjointed pieces of what Younger andLittlemore learn come together, the two uncover the shocking truth behindthe bombing.Blending fact and fiction in a brilliantly convincing narrative, JedRubenfeld has forged a gripping historical mystery about a tragedy thatholds eerie parallels to our own time