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Summary

“The year is 1896. The city is New York. Newspaper reporter John Schuyler Moore is summoned by his friend Dr. Laszlo Kreizler—a psychologist, or “alienist”—to view the horribly mutilated body of an adolescent boy abandoned on the unfinished Williamsburg Bridge. From there the two embark on a revolutionary effort in criminology: creating a psychological profile of the perpetrator based on the details of his crimes. Their dangerous quest takes them into the tortured past and twisted mind of a murderer who will kill again before their hunt is over.

Fast-paced and riveting, infused with historical detail, The Alienist conjures up Gilded Age New York, with its tenements and mansions, corrupt cops and flamboyant gangsters, shining opera houses and seamy gin mills. It is an age in which questioning society’s belief that all killers are born, not made, could have unexpected and fatal consequences.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

This was such an absolutely phenomenal read and I honestly fell in love with it within the first few pages. If you have a stronger stomach and don’t mind some graphic gore (and if you do mind it, honestly, you know it’s coming and can skim over it without losing much of the story), this is absolutely, absolutely worth the read!

Like Sherlock Holmes on Steroids

From the moment you start this book, you feel transported into this Sherlock Holmes type world. Based around 1896, you really feel as if you’re in New York City that is developing, still full of immigrants who are arriving by the day, stories of Indians and the Frontier, and just the general feelings and struggles that people faced. This was a traditional style murder mystery book but with just so much more. Carr is a master at weaving bits of history together into a story that really helps you feel as if you are joining the main characters on this journey to solve the gruesome murder of a young boy prostitute.

The world that Carr was able to weave with both the creation of the city, the language used by characters and the general scene setting really makes you feel as if you are there! The group doing the investigating had a main two – Moore and Kreizler – who definitely gave a Sherlock and Watson kind of vibe.

Graphic & Gore

Now this book, I would say, isn’t for the faint of stomach per se. The book is incredibly violent – about the murder of a young boy prostitute and is filled with detailed accounts of the state of various bodies and mutilation’s, as well as talks of gay child prostitution. There’s lots of topics and aspects of the book that are scandalous and taboo on so many levels and can make you feel a little sick to your stomach.

But, depending on your constitution and how you can handle these things and your willingness for an experience, you will have just that – an experience. You get to have similar feelings to the characters when they come across various bodies and situations – feelings of repulsion, disgust and horror. To me, this added a lot to the book and the whole experience. But to be honest, I did have moments where I had to take a breath, re-center and then push on as it was just so realistic. Think if Criminal Minds had a lovechild with Bones, Saw and Sherlock Holmes. You will kind of end up with The Alienist!

Investigation Methods & Madness Galore

You really got to see how investigations took place during the turn of the 20th century with there still being so much corruption, a lack of established methodology. You got to read about the suggestion of using fingerprinting – which was not an established method yet – and how useful it was to seeing the treatment of Alienists, also known as a psychiatrist, and how distrusted they were. It’s was a very interesting contract to modern day how it is all accepted, and seeing the struggle that Dr. Kreizler went through in his profession and throughout the investigation.

A Wild and Wonderfully Murderous Ride

This book was beyond incredible and I loved every single moment of it. I haven’t read a book this fast (within less than a week) in a very long time. I made time to read this book because I wanted to know what was going to happen next and what new turn was going to happen. There were some really amazing quotes, scenes and revelation in the book, one of my favorite being the following:

“Mrs. Piedmont unlocked the room and then we entered. The first thing that struck me was that the cats didn’t follow us in. As soon as the door opened their mewing stopped, and then they sat at the threshold, looking momentarily concerned before they shot off down the stairs. With their departure I turned to survey the chamber, and quickly caught a track of something in the air: the smell of decay.”

I am absolutely going to be checking out the TV show and if I find the time, other books be Carr as both the story and writing were superb!

Have you read The Alienist? What were your thoughts?

Happy Reading!

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