Customer Reviews

The Alienist

5 star:		(285)
4 star:		(120)
3 star:		(53)
2 star:		(37)
1 star:		(33)

 

 

New York City, 1896. A serial killer is on the loose, gruesomely preying upon cross-dressing boy prostitutes. Police detectives are making no progress solving the ghastly crimes. In fact, someone with power or influence seems to be bent on silencing witnesses and thwarting any investigation. Reform-minded police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt (yes, the same TR who later became president), determined to catch the killer, assembles an unconventional group of investigators headed by "alienist" Dr. Lazlo Kreizler. (In the 19th century, when psychology was in its infancy, the mentally ill were considered "alienated" from themselves and society, and the experts who treated them were known as "alienists.")

Dr. Kreizler's team includes his former Harvard classmate, New York Times crime reporter John Moore; Moore's longtime friend, spitfire heiress-turned-NYPD-secretary Sara Hamilton; and two former mental patients who now work as his servants.

To help identify the killer--who leaves behind very few clues, manages to spirit his victims out of locked rooms, and passes through the city unnoticed--the team attempts to develop a psychological profile of the type of person who would be capable of such horrendous deeds. The novelty of their approach does not win them any fans from the mental-health establishment or most NYPD detectives, and throughout the novel, they attempt to keep their involvement secret.

Author Caleb Carr puts his historical background to fascinating use. "The Alienist" is filled with rich details about both the seamier underside and more privileged parts of late-19th-century New York City and the then-novel crime detection techniques. Detectives Lucius and Marcus Isaacson, assigned to assist the investigation, employ the not-yet-accepted science of fingerprinting and other methods of identification in their hunt for the killer.

"The Alienist" is one of the few murder mysteries that I have ever enjoyed reading a second time. The characters are memorable, dryly amusing at times, and always fascinating. Carr portrays his victims as humans and individuals, rather than sensationalizing their professions. The plot, including a race against time once the team predicts when the killer is likely to strike again, moves along at a brisk pace. The historical detail advances the plot rather than bogging it down.

Lovers of historical fiction and detective mysteries will find a treat in "The Alienist."

The Alienist is a book that is filled with both mystery and horror and it is absolutely riveting. Although a little over five hundred pages long, The Alienist is so fantastic and reads so well that we barely notice the pages going by. I read it in two evenings, something that is very rare for me; when a book is as good as this one is, I like to savor it and make it last.

The first thing that most readers will wonder about is the somewhat strange title. What, exactly, is an alienist? Well, as Carr explains, prior to the twentieth century, those who were mentally ill were thought to be alienated, from society and from their own true nature as well. Those who studied the pathology of mental illness were thus known as "alienists."

The plot centers around three friends: a journalist, John Moore; an alienist, Lazlo Kreizler; and a newly-appointed Police Commissioner who just happens to be Teddy Roosevelt. The three are working to solve a series of brutal murders that involves a string of boy prostitutes.

Teddy, as would be expected, is on top of everything and appoints Dr. Kreizler to head the investigation into the murders. Moore is included by association only, it would seem, since he and Teddy went to Yale together. Coincidentally, Moore has only recently returned from England where he was busy covering the Jack the Ripper murders.

Kreizler immediately begins to track the murders using what is known and what is unknown and via assumption as well. The twists and turns in this book are so complex and varied that both information and assumptions change almost as quickly as the team of investigators can piece them all together.

As would be expected, tracking a serial killer in New York City isn't an easy job. People die, disappear and are murdered with frightening regularity and, usually, with little rhyme or reason. Roosevelt, however, is determined. Not only must he solve the murders, he must also clean up the NYPD in the process. There are, of course, the usual assortment of people who simply do not want the murders solved, in this case, corrupt policeman, underworld bosses and even the city's elite. Virtually everyone seems to hold the attitude that the murder victims, being prostitutes, shouldn't matter. In fact, there are those who think the city should be glad to rid of them. This is a book filled with both social and political turmoil, turmoil that threatens to overwhelm the murder case and make it impossible to solve.

The writing is fluid and really first-rate. The pages fly by and the suspense builds like a danse macabre. The characters are fully-developed but a little dark. The only bright spot in this fascinating but bizarre book is Teddy Roosevelt, himself. But it would, of course, be impossible to paint Teddy all somber, all of the time.

The Alienist is a dark and offbeat book and one that borders on the macabre, but it is also one that is fascinating and extremely well-written. All in all, an enormous accomplishment.

If you want to read a historical mystery that you can't put down, look no further than The Alienist! Set in New York in 1896, Caleb Carr transports the reader to the smells and sights of that period. The reader is whisked away to dine at Delmonico's, sit in box seats at the Opera, and learn about Theodore Roosevelt's efforts to reform the NYC police department.

The Alienist focuses on Dr. Leo Kreiszler and John Schuyler Moore, who Roosevelt calls in to investigate a serial killer who is targeting boy prostitutes. The three men join to put together a top-notch and thoroughly modern investigative team (including one of the first women allowed to work at the Department) to delve into the crimes with a combination of psychological profiling and novel techniques like finger-printing and crime-scene analysis. What I found most fascinating was the insights Carr provides into the formation of criminal science techniques that we now take for granted.

Carr is a gifted writer with the ability to transport you to another time and place within pages. In addition, he knows how to write a good detective thriller. This one of the finest historical mysteries I've ever read and I highly recommend it.

Look, I'm seriously in the minority here. But, I think that the writing is flat and dull and that the whole book is tedious. It's at least 200 pages too long. There is some excitement in the final 150 pages, but the payoff is limited at best. Its good points include describing turn of the century NYC in a way that makes life today seem glorious and hopeful. We've come a long way, and Carr does a good job making that clear. But, narrator Moore is a bore; the interesting characters --Cyrus, Stevie, the two detective brothers, Mary--are given short shrift; there is almost no spark between the characters at all.

Carr is a terrific essayist and letter writer. Is that his real gift? To find out, I'd have to read a second novel and I don't know that I'm willing to do that.

The ALIENIST begins with Theodore Roosevelt's funeral, a reason for the novel's narrator, John Schuyler Moore, a New York Times crime reporter, to flash back to 1896, when Roosevelt had just been appointed police commissioner. Roosevelt summons Moore and Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, the alienist of the title, to head up a murder investigation. Someone has been murdering transvestite boy prostitutes and Roosevelt doesn't trust his corrupt police department to solve the crimes.
I had recently read a non-fiction account of life in New York during the nineteenth century and I wanted to see how Carr would
incorporate what I knew into a novel. I've also been interested in profiling ever since I read THE RED DRAGON, by Thomas Harris.
Kreizler is an early version of a profiler.
Although some reviewers bemoan Carr's handling of minor characters, I found some of them totally engrossing, especially Stevie, a street urchin whom Dr. Kreizler takes under his wing as a driver. Stevie adds some comic relief to a sometimes depressing novel.
Something else I rather liked was the inclusion of historical characters, besides Roosevelt. Jacob Riis and J.P. Morgan, among others, make appearances. You can certainly tell Carr was once a historian. New York City, 1896 is the real star of the story. I've started Carr's futurist novel, KILLING TIME, since I read this one and could not get through the first twenty pages. Stick to history, Caleb.

The most intriguing part of The Alienist is it's catchy title, and its dark, mysterious cover. Despite the graphic details of the murders, and the mildly interesting historical content, the actual plot of the book never lives up the the sinister feel established by the title and cover photograph. Don't get me wrong, it's not really bad, after all I was interested enough to finish the thing, it just sort of fizzled out. I tired quickly of the authors' attempt to make me sympathize with the pitiful, abused, child killer.

The the author must have watched too many episodes of the TV show "Profiler" when he devised his explanation of how the killer was apprehended. Left to the investigative techniques of Mr. Moore and Dr. Kreizler, the killer would have died of boredom long before he was ever caught!

Caleb Carr has written a good tale. I think this one rates about three and one-half stars.

This 1896 murder tale is gruesome and intelligent at the same time. The murder scene descriptions are grotesque, but do not seem gratuitous in this tale of the search for a serial killer by an unusual team of investigators. (Although I would not recommend the book for early or mid-teenagers. This is a PG-17 novel). The investigators are a psychologist (alienist), journalist, two police detectives and a woman. This allows the author to explore psychology, the muckraking and reform press, a police force transitioning from corrupt to professional methods and the nascent woman's movement.

On the positive side, anyone interested in historical fiction will be enthralled by the descriptions of turn of the century New York. Historical figures abound, prominently police commissioner Roosevelt (although he comes off as a bit cartoonish for anyone who has read Roosevelt biographies). J.P Morgan and Anthony Comstock also make appearances.

Mr. Carr does great justice to atmospherics. The tenement houses reek in the imagination and New York's cold and wet streetscape chills the reader thanks to very good descriptive writing.

Anyone interested in the founding of modern psychology will enjoy the great debates that attended its birth. Psychological analysis is the backbone for this murder investigation, as are "new" police methods such as fingerprinting and handwriting analysis.

The story itself is enjoyable, although for some reason it took me three tries to get into this book. One reason is that Mr. Carr uses a lot of words to tell his tale. No new noun is introduced without its background being explored or appearance described. I thought at one point that had Mr. Carr's editors banished the dash (--) and comma (,) from this book, the tale would have remained but been told in about half the pages.

This makes for at times a languid pace of reading. Fortunately, there are periodic surprises and major plot developments to the murder investigation that generally keep one's interest and generate enough anticipation that the reader wants to find out "who dun-it."

First of all, this book, at 600 pages, was about 200 pages longer than it really needed to be. The nail-biting suspense in 18th Century Manhattan was often interrupted by boring trips to South Dakota (or was it North Dakota, or Montana?), Washington D.C., and upstate New York ("downstate" for some). Carr tried to sink deeply into psychological and religious themes, but only succeeded in exploring these themes in an unconvincing and superficial manner. He did succeed in describing the bodies of mutilated boy prostitutes with excessive grotesqueness; however, this required little sophistication and is certainly not my idea of a literary accomplishment. With half-hearted romances that never blossom, and numerous shady characters lurking in the background for reasons left largely to the reader's speculation, "The Alienist" proved rather dissatisfying. Indeed, the "alienist" himself suddenly disappears for a lengthy period at a crucial moment in the book, but then reappears near the end to set things back in order (imagine that!). This is a nail-biter interspersed with sufficient dull moments to allow your nails to grow back.

The author did a splendid job of blending his characters with the backdrop of a well-researched historical setting. After setting the tone of the story, which took about the first 100 or so pages, I could not put the book down. Most definitely one of the best books I have read. Too often murder mystery stories are 'quick' reads with little real substance. This book, however, is truly refreshing in that the focus is not the 'murders' per se, nor is the focus primarily solely on 'suspense'. There are many fascinating angles for the reader to focus on as Carr takes us through the streets of NYC, painting a dark, gloomy picture of early city life. There are also many glimpses of how some of our current crime fighting techniques of the modern age were probably introduced and sparked controversy. It is this detail, along with the character interaction, which makes the book extra special. I highly recommend this book for everyone - especially those readers who tire of quick reads which lack substance and truism.

I am reading the sequel to this book right now and I am remembering exactly why I love this book. It's well researched with engaging characters, a realistic portrayal of turn-of-the-century New York as well as Criminology methods and it's just all around a great read.

The book begins with the death of Theodore Roosevelt and then goes back to the time when Roosevelt was in charge of cleaning up New York City's corruption. The narrator, a drunk journalist, then relates the story of Dr. Lazarus, an ahead of his time psychologist, working to solve a serial killing spree that involves boy prostitutes. All of the secondary characters are fully fleshed out transcending their story roles (the investigators, the juvenile deliquent, the feminist who wants to be a police detective) It isn't surprising that Caleb Carr used another character in order to narrate the second book. All of the characters could narrate their own books and you'd be intrigued to hear what they have to say.

The historical portions don't fall to the level of "I know what's going to happen" smirking that historical books tend to have, as the characters use the "experimental" procedures including fingerprinting and limb length measurements, while using various psychological schools of thougt without Freud overtaking everyone. In fact, William James is the main psychologist for these characters.

Weighing in a over 500 pages, this book successfully passes the time check. You don't see the pages go by. You don't feel like you are reading a long novel. In fact, once it's over you wish that you could linger in the Victorian New York for just a little longer with these people.

This is a great book and I'm only 100 pages into the sequel but that one is amazing as well (although the sequel seems less violent) so here's hoping that Caleb Carr does many more books with these characters.