The Alienist

This book is so much more than a murder mystery. It reads like a 19th century adventure novel mashed up with a psychological treatise. It takes the reader into the seamy underbelly of the Gilded Age, transporting them to a New York City filled with drugs, child prostitutes, police corruption, and abject poverty. Juxtaposed against these are the truly good characters of Laszlo Kreiszler, John Moore, Sarah Howard, and (fascinatingly) Theodore Roosevelt. Together, this team, along with a host of quirky characters, tracks a serial murderer through the poverty and crime filled streets of the Lower East Side.What makes this book unique is its approach to solving the murders. The focus is never Who committed the murders, but WHY he feels compelled to kill. It is a fascinating glimpse into early psychological theories. The identity of the killer, which is discovered fairly quickly, takes second place to his motives, his upbringing, and how he is shaped by his past.Written in the early 1990s, there is none of the virtue signaling or preaching about the sins of our nation's past. The sordid crimes and even more perverse elements that prey on society's darker urges are not excused. There are no lectures on racism, sexism, and popular "phobias" disguised as fiction. Instead, the author presents history as is, warts and all, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions about life in the late 19th century. The good are virtuous and the bad are villianous, no matter what their standing in society or how they are oppressed by their circumstances.I recommend this book to anyone who likes to know the why of crimes rather than the who, and to any who enjoy a good historical romp. The politically correct should avoid it.

I stumbled across “The Alienist” in an airport bookshop, looking for something new to read during my flight. Its black and white cover stood out among the other colorful covers and I was drawn to that image of turn-of-the century New York. I was treated to a rousing page-turner, characters I would quickly grow to love, and want more of. This novel, and it’s sequel “The Angel of Darkness” remain my favorite books of all time. I only wish to have more of Dr. Kreizler’s adventures to read, and re-read over and over as well.

The Alienist is an historical novel, set in New York City in 1896. Caleb Carr is a novelist and military historian, and a screenwriter (The Exorcist prequels, among others). (I encourage you to look up Carr's bio. He's a very interesting guy.) He's a masterful storyteller who admits to writing "The Alienist" with a cinematographer's eye. I'm digressing a bit to relate that, with the recent and very enjoyable Sherlock Holmes movies (starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law) in my memory, I couldn't help but see many of the scenes from the movie transposed over those of the book. Nor could I help but try to cast "The Alienist" in my mind. Additionally, the cable networks have been very interested in this historical period recently. "Coppers" is series that's caught my husband's interest. Another movie example is Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York". With these movies and shows having so captured the movie and TV watchers' interests, I thought that surely there must be an "Alienist" movie in the making, especially since the book is 20 years old. I found that indeed there WAS a movie in the making, but "was" is all it will be. Scott Rudin (who's responsible for dozens of wonderful movies, including No Country for Old Men, There Will be Blood, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and the brand new and very good Captain Phillips) had purchased the movie rights before the book was published. Alas, why Rudin didn't hire Carr as the screenwriter, I cannot fathom, but he didn't. Apparently, he and Paramount hired $2M worth of screenwriters who tried for several years to write the adaptation, but Rudin changed the characters' and the focus of the movie---utterly ruined it, from what I read. Sad. It would have been a great(!) movie.I read a mass-market edition of The Alienist. In that format, it was just at 600 pages. Unless a book is really wonderful, I tend to wear out when a book is that long. Not this one. It was a gripping read. I was sorry to close it up each night, and anxious to begin again the next evening. I'm also looking forward to reading the second in the series, "The Angel of Darkness".The narrator in The Alienist is John Moore, a crime reporter. He becomes the Dr. Watson to his long-time Sherlockian friend, Dr. Lazlo Kreizler, an "alienist", as psychiatrists were then known since mentally-ill people were considered to be alien from themselves and society. Aided by their college friend, Theodore Roosevelt, who was the NYC Police Commissioner--- at a time when the extremely corrupt NYC police force was the focus of Teddy's clean-up efforts---Moore and Kreizler are provided with a small team of people who try to find a child-prostitute serial killer. You can read all these details in other reviewers' comments. I'll focus now on why I liked the book so much.As always, story first. This one could have been a fairly routine serial-killer one, but the twists provided by the time period, the NYC setting and historical events, and the very interesting killer-finding team made it wonderfully enjoyable. Next, I thought that the writing was superb. Carr's phasing and cadence gave the narrative a turn-of-the-century feel. If you think about the letters of a Confederate soldier, or any of Dickens' or Bronte's books, you get what I mean. I forgot that I was reading something written by a contemporary writer. The story was delivered in a masterful way, with each chapter ending with a set-up for the next one. I couldn't wait to find out what happened next. I also loved the characters, every single one of them. (Each of them had an engaging back-story, and I could imagine them showing up again in another book.) I even felt the compassion for the killer that Dr. Kreizler encourages his team members to feel. A thoroughly good read, and a book and an author I can't believe I'm only now discovering. Highly recommended.

Enjoyed the journey immensely . Any fan of a great murder mystery and a vicid historical context will love it.

For lovers of mysteries, thrillers, and crime novels with a dash of the Noel Coward like flair that the actor brought to the stage and screen, this is your book!Late 19th century Manhattan - with young political luminaries such as Theodore Roosevelt, the multi-millionaire J. P Morgan, dinners at Delmonico’s, carriage rides from downtown to uptown and back again around the perimeter of Washington Square Park, concerts at the Metropolitan opera house, forays into the Museum of Natural History - Caleb Carr’s book the Alienist brings us the scent and flavor of a growing New York City rife with crime, ambition, and even romance, as the city grinds forward toward the modern era.Each character and plot twist in this novel is a rich vein of ore that Caleb Carr mines with depth and agility right down to the bedrock.

Vi la serie en Netflix y me gustó tanto que compré el libro.

O livro é excepcional, prende a atenção e surpreendente a cada página. A história é muito consistente, aguardando o próximo livro.

I watched the Netflix series first and read the book afterwards to get more detail behind the crime investigation. Really exciting story and the conversations between the characters are very interesting.

I'm still reading this book at the moment. But I can say that I am genuinely impress with the way it was written. I rarely read this kind of genre in a book, but this one really got me.And if you are a fan of such book, you must not let this one pass by.Really fabulous!!!

Este es un libro maravilloso. Lo recomiendo ampliamente. Que bueno que lo pude conseguir en formato Kindle. Este libro tiene muchos años de haber sido publicado por primera vez y aún se sigue publicando. Es un clásico de este género.