Conscience

Said to be a French take on the newly available French translation of Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment", this book analyses the motives and actions of an ambitious and pathologically ultra-rational young Parisian doctor, who by his chosen deeds leads himself into desperately conflicted circumstances, leading a double life whose equilibrium is constantly threatened. His marriage suffers and he becomes progressively more isolated. This novel contains the first half of his story, which is completed in the sequel novel "Justice". - Summary by Peter Tucker