I read Crime and Punishment last year and found it incredibly disappointing, considering its massive reputation. Simpletons, idiots, caricatures, buffoons and victims performing lots of hand-wringing, posturing, dithering, swooning and assorted drama. Hard to identify with or care about any of them. Call it entertainment, but I prefer Dickens.
I understand what you mean, the insight on the mind of a murderer is what kept me going. I found the same unecessary drama/silliness while reading "The Master and Margarita", maybe it's a Russian writing style.
Master and Margarita was on my list, maybe it will stay there a while.
For insight into the minds of murderers x 4.5 billion + a few, I just finished Iain Banks' Look to Windward. I didn't think I saw what was coming when it came, but then at the end, I realized I knew it was there all along.
The Culture series is underrepresented on this thread. Hello, Contact? Whenever it's convenient to send a module, I'm ready to go.