Customer Reviews

The Beast of Chicago: The Murderous Career of H. H. Holmes (A Treasury of Victorian Murder) (v. 6)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the latest in Rick Geary's series A Treasury of Victorian Murder. Many people have become fascinated with H. H. Holmes thanks to the book The Devil And The White City. But unlike that book, this is not a dramatization. Instead it is a simple chronological account of the man based on what little evidence actually exists.

Not a whole lot is know about Dr. Holmes, much is supposition and here say. Geary does an excellent job of recounting the facts as well as highlighting many inconsistencies in the legend (i.e. at one point Holmes admitted to the murder of 27 people but some of them were still alive).

Although Geary's series is written in a comic book format, this is not really a comic book. The reader is drawn in quickly and then the story is presented in a very clear and straightforward manner.

Whether this is your first account of Holmes or your tenth, I am sure you will find the story fascinating.

Rick Geary's Beast Of Chicago is a story of a Victorian murder scenario and one H. H. Holmes is presented entirely in black and white graphic novel format, providing readers with a blend of insight, humor, and survey of the world's first serial killer who operated in the late 19th century around the Chicago World's Fair. Holmes murdered up to 200 people, and his reputation comes to life in this exciting graphic novel story.

If something on this subject matter can be called "cute", then this is it. This book is amazing! The story is all factual and the comic styling makes it a little easier to get through if this kind of stuff bothers you. BRILLIANTLY done! Love it!

This is the latest in Rick Geary's series A Treasury of Victorian Murder. growing up in munster this book is awesome

This is a great introduction to the life of this Chicago killer. It considers his activities closely, yet avoids the gore and vulgarity one might expect from a classic graphic novel. This may make it less interesting, but it also makes it more appropriate for middle school libraries. A great union of history and illustration.

This is the story of H H Holmes, the "Beast of Chicago". Told succinctly but thoroughly and always clear despite the often complicated travels and situations Holmes created, Geary has highlighted a highly engaging figure labelled as "America's first serial killer".

H H Holmes scammed insurance companies to raise enough money to build his own hotel labelled by locals as "the castle". He hired different companies to build different parts of his hotel with the overall scheme of the hotel known only to Holmes. This was due to the various rooms he wanted built. A hanging room, airtight rooms with gas injectors, secret rooms, a trapdoor in the bathroom leading to and from the basement, an enormous furnace, stairs that led to nowhere, rooms without windows, and a medieval style basement with stretching rack. He then opened the doors to visitors coming to Chicago's World Fair that summer. He targeted mainly young women and estimates on his murders reach triple figures though he only admitted to 27. "The castle" burned down shortly after Holmes was executed.

Geary doesn't try to explain Holmes' behaviour through speculation but only mentions the facts known, little as they are. Holmes was beaten by a drunken father as a child and was also locked in a doctor's room alone with a human skeleton. Some schoolmates also remember hearing that he used to dissect stray animals. Though these are signs of a fractured psyche it's no explanation for the pathological and psychotic killings that Holmes committed in his life. He remains a mystery.

I am interested in history but rarely to the extent of reading 700 page books on a particular case or person. It's useful then that Rick Geary's written/illustrated several 50 page graphic novels about fascinating and sometimes forgotten figures in history. This is one of Geary's best, and Holmes' case is a mesmerising read.

I wish I had known about this book when I read "The Devil in the White City". They go hand-in-hand.

I always enjoy Rick Geary's books and will continue to be a big fan. This one wasn't as good as some of the others, though; the story-telling falls flat towards the end. Is this because the story itself ends with a wimper? Could be, but there should be a better way of ending the story.

Artist/storyteller Geary does what might be called documentary graphics novels of the macabre and sometimes gory variety. Here he's concerned with Herman Mudgett of New Hampshire, who, under the name "Dr. H. H. Holmes" (among many others), cut a bloody swath through the crowds of visitors to the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. He's often regarded as "America's first serial killer" -- or at least the first we know about. He was married to (at least) three women at one time and often put them up in hotels near each other, he built a "murder factory" in the suburb of Englewood with secret rooms, drop-shafts, and a basement crematory, and he was responsible for the deaths of at least three dozen men, women, and children who can be identified. (The total was probably more like a hundred victims and may have been nearly twice that.) In a day of casual identification, and relatively slow travel and communications, Holmes was able to disappear people without much trouble, and his apparently winning personality convinced others to accept his explanations. Geary has a very precise black-and-white drawing style perfectly suited to the Victorian world of which he writes and his books -- and the research behind them -- are always fascinating.

As always, Rick Geary's art is stupendous, yet as other reviewers have noted, much more could have been done with this graphic novel. The bizarre nooks, crannies, and asphyxiation rooms of H.H.Holmes' castle would have made for a visual feast, but unfortunately Geary focuses on these matters relatively briefly, choosing instead to spend time following Holmes step-by-step as he abandons one wife and child after another and murders his way through most of the children in the Pietzel family. Still, a competent introduction to one of the more horrifying figures of 19th century America.