Narrator Sarah Pribek’s husband is in prison, and she has gone to bed with a man she’s supposed to be investigating. As she tries to sneak out the next morning, he says, “It’s just a little sympathy between humans, Sarah.” The phrase carries a more profound meaning. What are people driven to do because they care for others? The plot incorporates three main story lines, all involving interpersonal relationships.

The second Sarah Pribek novel (after The 37th Hour) picks up not long after the end of the first. Sarah is a deputy sheriff in Hennepin County, Minnesota. Her husband Shiloh, a former police officer, is serving time for auto theft. They are not in contact. Her best friend and former partner, Genevieve is living in France. Sarah herself has become the prime suspect in a murder investigation. Because she witnessed Genevieve committing the crime, she will not reveal any details. To her distress, some of her fellow law enforcement officers admire her for what they believe she’s done.

Marlinchen Hennessy comes to her to report a missing person. Her brother Aidan has been living for the past five years in Georgia, but he’s disappeared. She’s come to Sarah because he may be on the way back to Hennepin County. Their mother is dead; their father is a famous writer who she says is presently at a remote cabin. Sarah soon discovers that seventeen-year-old Marlinchen is acting as the head of the family of her three younger siblings at home; their father has suffered a stroke and is in a nursing home. She wonders whether she should report the situation to Family Services.

Sarah is asked to look into rumors that someone is practicing medicine without a license. She starts by questioning some of her informants. One of Shiloh’s former informants, a young mother named Ghislaine, directs her to Cisco. Sarah locates him; he is wheelchair-bound and lives on the top floor of a tenement. She finds him caring and sympathetic so does not immediately turn over the information to her supervisor.

Sarah has a phobia against doctors and hospitals. When her ear infection worsens, she seeks Cisco’s help. His name is really Cicero Ruiz; he does have an M.D. but lost his license. He depends on the money he receives from drop-in patients to live. Sarah feels that because she has become involved with him she cannot turn him in.

Something feels amiss to her in regard to the Hennessys. As she delves deeper into their situation, she will uncover some long-held secrets.

The 37th Hour was one of my nominees for Best Book of 2004. I started Sympathy Between Humans hoping for the same level of quality I found in author Jodi Compton’s impressive debut. Sarah Pribek is a character who definitely deserves more than a single book, and I was glad to meet up with her again. Even though the story is to a large degree a continuation of The 37th Hour, having read the first book is not essential to understanding the second. Readers who have already been introduced to Sarah will definitely want to read this new book.

An underlying issue in Sympathy is Sarah’s conflicts over the events that transpired in The 37th Hour. She’s feeling removed and isolated from those she cares most about. She feels somewhat abandoned by her friend and former partner; she doesn’t like the reputation she’s wrongly earned. Moreover, she feels alienated from Shiloh. She can relate to the Hennessy children and to Cicero - they too are mostly on their own - but she hasn’t found a way to reach out to her husband.

The advantage of first person point of view is the reader’s insight into the narrator. The mix of Sarah’s idealism and idiosyncracies make for a complex character. Her observations on the Hennessy children, particularly Marlinchen, and Cicero make them multi-dimensional characters as well.

With its multiple subplots, Sympathy Between Humans takes longer to reach high gear than its predecessor, but my interest never lagged. Between reading it and writing this review, several weeks passed. When that has happened in the past, I usually find myself needing to refresh my memory with at least the specifics if not the broad outlines of plot and character. But Sympathy Between Humans stuck with me; I remembered nearly every detail. This is a story, a main character, and an underlying theme worth remembering. I highly recommend it and look forward to future books from this talented author.

--Lesley Dunlap