The White City [Hardcover]

Alec Michod (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 27, 2004

It is the year of our lord, 1893. The crackle of electricity's first sparks, the mechanical whine of Ferris's wheel, the tinkling of crystal from the majestic city atop the hill--the sounds of a new era pervade the air as the century's last World's Fair commences in Chicago.
But darkness lurks beneath the metropolis so austere it has been dubbed the White City. Strikes loom on the horizon, racism runs rampant, and a murderer unlike any America has ever seen before is on the loose, terrorizing the city. His crimes are so brutal, newspapers have christened him the Husker. Hiding behind the cloak of a city in chaos, he taunts his pursuers, littering the grounds of the fair with the corpses of children as he slips through the shadows.
Dr. Elizabeth Handley, the first forensic psychologist of her kind, has been called in to capture the killer, but when the son of prominent architect William Rockland goes missing, the case takes on an entirely new urgency. In this city of bombastic politics and cutthroat egos, everyone has his own agenda, but time is running out. As she races to save the boy, Dr. Handley fights to maintain her sanity as the line between captor and quarry blurs, and violence casts its spell.
From the depths of the seediest brothels to the pristine enclaves of the elite, The White City is a strange, beguiling first novel, a thriller that masterfully blends fact and fiction. An exhilarating voyeur's glimpse at Chicago in all its glory, it also probes the dark side that was never far from its core.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It's always a tough choice with historical fiction: risk bogging down the story with painstaking accuracy, or play fast and loose with the facts. Debut novelist Michod takes the latter tack in his fast-paced, sensational rush through the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, where the hunt is on for a serial killer who preys on young boys. Beginning with an immediate sensory whirl - wind whipping off Lake Michigan, bustling exhibition halls, excited crowds - this literate thriller pulls readers along pell-mell until the end. When young Billy Rockland, son of a prominent Chicago architect, wanders away from his parents, he's discovered by the ominous Skurlock, who whisks him into the fair's dark fringes. Meanwhile, the corpses of mutilated boys have the city in a panic. Add to the mix Potter Palmer, a prominent industrialist and friend of the grieving Rocklands; a twisted subplot involving striking workers and blackmail; the intrepid (but sometimes disoriented) forensic psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Handley; and of course the killer himself, who may or may not be the man dragging around the uncomplaining Billy. Michod keeps the suspense high, and he enlivens his tale with plenty of period visuals; he also indulges in a stylized, torqued syntax that can be awkward. While first-novel prose excesses may be excusable, fuzzy characterization is not; the urges and motivations of the main players are implausible at key moments, and readers may find it difficult to suspend disbelief and sympathize. This is a smart, daring attempt to weave fact and fiction, but here's hoping that Michod's next story doesn't get lost in the razzle-dazzle.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

It has to be unnerving to finish a historical novel and then learn that your choice of setting and topic has also been turned into a nonfiction book, which has become a best-seller. Michod's heart may have sunk when he learned of the publication of Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City [BKL F 15 03], a splendid historical account that juxtaposes the builder of the 1893 Columbian Exposition against a destroyer of life, the serial killer H. H. Holmes, who found victims among female fairgoers. But bad timing aside, Michod's novel remains well worth reading. He jumps off from the Holmes' murders to murders of little boys. He provides a marvelous and historically based female detective. Best of all, his painstaking research brings to life the World's Fair's grand halls and grotesque sideshows. Michod avoids the historical novelist's failing of overwhelming the reader with hard-won detail, managing instead to uses his research to great dramatic effect. Recommend this to readers of the Larson book, who will be fascinated by the fictional portrayal of many of the same events. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 226 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (January 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312313977
• ISBN-13: 978-0312313975
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,066,700 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alec Michod is the author of The White City, a novel. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago and has an MFA in writing from Columbia University. He has written for The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Village Voice, and The Believer, and his TV writing has been broadcast on VH1, TruTV, A&E, and History.

Alec is writing a second novel. You can read excerpts of at his Web site, AlecMichod.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly written, boring thriller, January 16, 2006

By 

Chicago Reader (Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The White City (Paperback)

This book is so hard to follow--you never really know what is happening. You have no feeling for or insight into any of the characters. The book is poorly written and full of inaccuracies about Chicago and the 1893 Columbian Exposition. I couldn't believe it when I read a passage describing the sun setting over Lake Michigan!!!!! The lake is east of the city. The sun always sets in the west!! This is a simple fact that anyone with a map could figure out. This man is from Chicago?

If you want to read a good, non-fiction book on the Columbian Exposition read Erik Larson's "The Devil in the White City." If you want to read a well-written mystery read Sue Grafton.

Don't believe the rave reviews of this book. They must be written by the author's family and friends.

I'm mad I wasted my time and money on this book. Don't waste yours.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Historical inaccuracies and opaque, hazy writing doom this book, December 7, 2005

By 

Aphra Behn (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The White City (Hardcover)

I found several historical miscues in the first few pages. The Ferris Wheel running since May? Women wearing hoops? Did Michon do any research at all? Even aside from the obvious screw-ups (for no reason -- I'm willing to accept changing history if it needs to be changed for the story, like the ways he changed Holmes, but things like a throwaway line about the Ferris Wheel or the clothing? The only reason that's mucked up is sloppiness), the writing style is practically impenetrable. I found it impossible to tell what was going on, what was happening to whom, or who any of the characters were supposed to be. They had no identifying characteristics. None. And the murders seemed to be created to be as gross and shocking as possible, without really adding up to anything in terms of creating a profile for the killer.

I was really disappointed in this book. Oh, and I don't know who the Husker was because I didn't bother to finish, which is practically unheard of for me and mysteries.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Dissenting Voice, February 18, 2004

By 

Ms. Nancy F. Jones (Milwaukee, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The White City (Hardcover)

This is a strange fever dream of a novel. It's the author's first book, set in Chicago during the Columbian Exposition.

A serial killer nicknamed Clemantis, the Husker, is on the loose in Chicago, torturing and murdering small boys and leaving their brutalized bodies in the fair grounds. When the young son of a prominent citizen goes missing, the police are forced to take notice.

Dr Elizabeth Hadley, a forensic psychologist, is called in to assist in finding the killer. She is one of the first people working in this field.

Chicago is the main character in this book and Michod does a wonderful job of creating a Chicago that is brutal, atmospheric, and frightening. Hieronymus Bosch would have felt right at home in this Chicago.

Winds howl, blood runs in the street, and desperate men threaten strikes against the meat packing industry, whose injustices are vividly portrayed. Meanwhile, the monied elite are blind to the suffering of the less fortunate.

However, the human characters in this book are sketchily drawn, and I found their speech and their reaction to events inappropriate and unbelievable. I could not find a single character to like or identify with.

I also found the author's writing style to be unecessarily odd and awkward.

I am puzzled at the author's need to invent a semi-fictional serial killer when there was a real one working the Columbian Exposition. H.H. Holmes, the mad doctor and killer of young women who registered at his hotel of horrors is a more interesting character than Michod's Husker.

I imagine Michod reasoned that there had been enough written about Holmes's activities--notably the earlier non-fiction book 'Devil in the White City.'

I did not like this book. Yet, several days after finishing it, I find it still much on my mind. So what does that mean? No idea. You'll have to try it and judge for yourself, I guess...

I give it an 'A' for atmosphere, a 'C' for character development and plot, and a 'C-' for writing style.