The Alienist Paperback – October 24, 2006

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.

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.

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.

The reviewI really loved this book, I found it refreshing and different from anything else I’d read in the last couple of years. There isn't usually such a strong focus on psychology and the mind in stories like this but ultimately it was psychology and other types of criminal science that are the true hero of this book. I only found out this book existed after stumbling across the Netflix series and seeing it was linked to a book, usually I’ve read the book and then notice any TV and Film adaptations.I was thrown into the setting of this book, 1896 New York, life is not a simple, rife with racism, poverty and corruption (especially in the Police Force) New York is not a safe place to be. This is bought to life in the writing, I loved the historical facts and references made on this great city throughout the book. Transporting us straight into the streets, during journey’s in cabs the author directs us street by street point out monuments and important features of the New York culture at the time. The same hustle and bustle of the New York we know now but in an earlier time. We find out about the segregation within the city as the immigrant population increases and more cultures arrive. Throughout the book you understand the socio-economic status of New York.The Plot of this book is complex and full of mystery, for every question we get an answer to even more question arise. The whole story was tense and I really enjoyed the sense of discovery that the characters had with each step closer they got to identifying the murder. Not only was there the mystery of the murders but also the cloak and dagger behaviour of our band of crime fighters to keep the investigation away from the corrupt police department. I loved how accurately the mistrust and disgust of psychology criminal profiling and forensic was portrayed and created the basis for this story, portraying how other mavericks of science may have paved the way for newer, more modern detective processes. Having such a strong sense of setting really helped the flow of this plot.The thing I enjoyed the most was simply how anonymous the killer was throughout a large chunk of the book allowing for the focus to be on the investigation. We literally go from knowing nothing about them to slowly building a picture and we as the reader are taken through each step, seeing the early forensic techniques like handwriting analysis and fingerprint analysis being bought to life with a small bit of background on where these stemmed from is just so interesting. This will really suit some readers, people like me who really enjoy the how’s. If you aren’t driven by detail and/or interested in the scientific detail this book likely won’t be for you, the author hasn’t dumbed the process.I was drawn to Dr Laszlo Kreizler (our MC), his single mindedness, determination and belief in his craft is inspiring. He’s presented as almost unlikeable due to his peculiar nature and high intellect. He is the driving force of his team and selecting what is arguably his best friend, crime reporter, John Moore who due to the nature of his job can easily get into crime scenes and find out information. Sarah, the Secretary to the Police Commission who uses her position to locate information from Police sources and the Isaacson brothers, two Jewish Detectives who are shunned not only for their religious beliefs but their forward thinking ideas on detective work. Moore was probably the character out of the whole group that I struggled at times to get on with, sometimes finding him frustrating or a little to moany. I loved that the author put a pioneering female character into this book. Sarah is fierce and dreams of being a detective, she is the first of two women to be hired by the Police and sees the work Kreizler and the others are doing as a way to show a woman is more than capable.SummaryThis book is dark, with danger and a hella lot of mystery. It has a lot to offer people interested in Historical Mystery Fiction, however, I’ll be the first to admit the way this book is written can be hard going, if you don’t have a keen interest in psychology, criminal psychology and/or historical mysteries this could be a hard read for you. The action is also spread out with a lot of effort going into taking you through the investigation. The murders are also excessively gruesome and gory, so you need to be prepared to read for awful things, if you can’t cope with children under 15 being murdered this isn’t the book for you.For me the writing style although tough at times added to the authenticity and I ended this book feeling like I’d been with the characters every step of the way. My degree is in Psychology too which is another reason I enjoyed this book so much because I knew the theory they were talking about. Overall, this book just fit me as a person and I’d recommend you try it.

Here's another book that I bought on a 99p Kindle deal and really had my money's worth!Although the beginning is very heavy on the psycho babble, which did put me off somewhat, this is like the mother of all psychological thrillers!  It's very dark and disturbing and certainly not for the faint-hearted as they're graphic images of child murders which will not be to everyone's taste.  Once I got past all the psychiatry stuff it's a gripping and race against time murder mystery!I loved the setting, the period in which it was set and Sara's character and her dogged determination to the first woman working in the New York police department.If you need any more convincing to read (or watch) this, a modern day equivalent would be The Mentalist but soooo much darker!Since reading the book I have watched the Netflix adaptation which is very good too and apart from the ending stays very true to the book, loved the cast selection!

Brilliant characterisation, Wonderful story-telling, nicely paced. Great background, to the extend where you can visualise and hear and smell what is being described.A horrible world of child prostitution, evil, poverty, crime, corruption . . . and a small group of people trying to do the right thing. Being shocked, saddened, repulsed and emboldened all at the same time. A sad indictment of a time and place that was open for all to see, and that still lives, but now in the shadows.Changing times, new ideas, progress - in the face of those wanting the status quo. A real page turner, making me want to pick it up again after I've eaten or done some work, or put it down for any reason. Picking this book up is a must. Finishing it is a must. Absorbing it, living it, feeling it.So much better than the TV series. Too many changes from book to screen. The book lives and breathes and pulls you in.

Read this before saw the series on Netflix. So disappointed with the series, the book is so much better and the series added bits and took away others. In the book they all get along. The Jewish police sergeant brothers are very intelligent in the book and neither is a womaniser. The ending in the series is different too and let it down.The ending in the book far more interesting. The killings at the end were not the same. What! Daft. Off the top of my head, the author was an historian and the amount of work he put in to describe the times was phenomenal. The series has been very sanitised, as the poor people at that time lived in some horrendous conditions as described in the book realistically. Read the book, the writing is phenomenal, then you can scoff at the series, like me lol.

A real meaty read this - about 500-600 pages in paperback and all of them worth reading, it gripped me from start to finish, and for my money it deserved its 25 weeks in the Publishers Weekly bestsellers chart.It's not a "gay historical" per se - none of the main characters are gay, but young male prostitutes are being killed so it does offer a fascinating insight into a culture that is not much written about.What makes it compelling reading is the "serial profiling is in its infancy" (that and just about ALL the modern policing techniques that the team use, like fingerprinting, time of death and all the things CSI take for granted.)It's really gruesome, as would be expected. Carr doesn't flinch from his descriptions, and of course anyone who watches modern crime dramas won't find this a problem in the slightest. There's also a lot - a LOT of chat., which I loved, but someone wanting non-stop Dan Brown action won't appreciate that. Although there's a lot of tearing around in landaus and barouches and hansoms, it's not fast paced as a modern thriller and neither should it be, either.The killer leaves very little in the way of clues; no-one's seen him, and the boys are seemingly snatched out of locked rooms. It's how the team piece the case together that makes this a fascinating read, and for me to applaud it as a magnificent work of fiction.The characters are all vivid and believable. From Lazlo, the Alienist himself, John Moore the journalist, Miss Howard, the bluestocking who takes a post as secretary in the hopes of being the first woman detective, the two Jewish forensic scientists and three members of Lazlo's household. I identified with them all and wished them well (although doubting they'd all make it through the book unscathed)As a historical author I can only sit here with my jaw dropped in envy. The research that this book must have taken must have been staggering. It's not just a matter of learning 19th century police techniques, but there's obvious intelligence about the whole psychology behind serial murders and the Alienists who study them. Then there's an indepth knowledge of the powder keg of New York socio-politics and a clear picture of a city on the edge; dragging itself from incipient corruption into a more enlightened age. Add on rich descriptions of buildings and streets that are no longer there, what's being built, who runs which district, gangs and thugs and whore-houses.... The list is endless and I am in awe.Very cleverly too, it teases the reader with red-herrings, which,being a red-herring-phile I followed to conclusion every time. Highly enjoyable.If you enjoy crime fiction, and are one of the four people in the world who hasn't read this, then I recommend it heartily.