Parris Mitchell of Kings Row

In this sequel to Kings Row, Parris Mitchell is definitely the proponent of the story - and not Kings Row itself. Parris has achieved his goal as psychiatrist (still a young profession in the Midwest of the First World War) in his home town hospital - but he is still somewhat in need of his own medicine, as he tries to rationalize his marriage with Elise, emotionally a child-wife. Kings Row seems still to have a predominant percentage of abnormal personalities, but there are a few to offset them. There's melodrama here, perversion too, violence in a near-lynching and a rape with its tragic aftermath. There's the back-biting and bitter jealousies of small town life, which lead to Parris' loss of his job, until the flu-epidemic gives him a chance of a comeback. In plot structure, in character and mass of incident, there is a similarity of appeal in Parris Mitchell of Kings Row and a worthy sequel to the first book.