The Alienist, Caleb Carr
I am currently working on two books – one that I’m really enjoying and one that is just OK – the reviews for them should come in the next two weeks. In the meantime I thought I would review of my Top 10 (er….11) books!
I read The Alienist back in college, but this is easily one of the books that I most recommend to people, it made that much of an impression on me. The premise is that during turn of the century NYC (read – early 1900′s) there is a serial killer on the loose killing young male prostitues. The police commissioner, Teddy Roosevelt, puts together a team to look into the murders. One of which is, an Alienist, or psychologist who works with the mentally ill, Laszlo Kriezler. One murder leads to another as the team scrambles to catch the killer before he/she kills again.
This had all of the classic elements that I love: mystery & history! That to me leads to a book that keeps the pages turning late into the night, that some might call, unputdownable. It was so interesting, because as the team is trying to solve the case they don’t have the tools that present day police have (ie: fingerprintings, dna, etc) so it was especially neat to see how they were going to solve the mystery. I thought the character development in this book was great! You almost feel like you are a part of the team, going from place to place looking for clues with the characters in the book.
While I read this book before I moved to NYC, Jon and I, stumbled upon a reference to The Alienist on the tour of the New York Public Library. The New York Public Library is over the site of the Croton Reservoir, which has a huge scene at the end of the book. From the inside of the library you can actually view one of the walls of the old Croton Reservoir. Needless to say we were pretty excited on the tour when they pointed this out.
After reading The Alienist, I dove right into The Angel of Darkness, and while I didn’t think it was as good, it was fun to be reunited with “the team”! If you like mysteries or historical fiction I would definitely recommend this book. You’ll love it and you’ll be passing it on to friends for years to come.
Overall Rating: 5 Stars
Post in Comments:
What is your favorite mystery/historical fiction book?
This is one of my favorite books!!! I’m glad you enjoyed it so much. It’s a little disturbing, especially when the real-life “boy fiend” (I think that’s what he was called; the boy who murdered other children) is discussed. You have inspired me to look for this at the library so I can re-read it. It’s been about 7 years since I read it, so it may be time to do so again!
By: Jennifer Hays on October 28, 2009
at 4:26 pm