Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Alienist - Caleb Carr


Genre: Historical Fiction
Format: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 9780553572995
Pages: 597
Rating: 3.5 Stars


Well, I have finally finished it. I took me pretty much a whole month to read. Not only because it was a large book, but I had a rough couple of weeks and I am working on my thesis, so time really isn't on my side but with that aside I really did enjoy the book. Maybe it would have gotten a higher rating have I not been so exhausted reading (or not reading it for that matter) but this is what it is.


This story is gruesome and mind bending. It is about a crazy killer who does some horrible mutilations it his victim's and brings together many different types of people into a secret investigation to find it's killer. There's a reporter, 2 detective's (who are highly educated and are the first to do fingerprinting), a female cop (which really didn't exist back then), an amazing psychologist (who was very eager and willing to do anything to find out why people are the way they are) and of course Teddy (who was in the police force at the time). There are many other characters in the book that brought their own great personalities and I think it was perfect. Everything in the book needed to be there and it did for a great read.


I love to read about old New York and to feel what it is like to live in the 1800's. Carr did a great job bringing in the characters and historical aspects. I really did like how Carr incorporated so many great things into his book.

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