What a marvelous book! I bought this book because I was very interested in reading about serial killers, and I have family in Chicago, whom I've visited on many occasions, so it just seemed to fit. On the back of the book Esquire gives a very fitting blurb: "So good, you find yourself asking how you could not know this already." This is absolutely true. In every chapter of the book, I was astounded and amazed over the events that occurred.

Much to the annoyance of my boyfriend, I would shout out while he was doing something, "Oh my goodness, did you know that at the opening ceremony for the World Fair like 90% of the people there couldn't even hear the speech being given because they didn't have microphones back then!" or "Wow! Did you know that the first Ferris Wheel was made for the World Fair and the axle weighed 142,031 pounds??" Looking back on all that now, I must have been quite the nuisance, but I was so engrossed by the story, every bit of information and detail thrilled me.

Maybe I'm just a geek when it comes to history, but personally, I feel it is very important to know about what life was like in America in the late 1800s and Larson does a good job at capturing that. Not to mention, Larson does a good job at piecing together the notes of who Holmes was and how he went about on his serial killings. If you look at the Bibliography, it's astounding. The amount of research put in this book is fantastic. It's like Larson was Indiana Jones and he had to solve the puzzles of the Last Crusade with only the help of a scrawling journal. I exaggerate, but that's how it felt at times.

Do I recommend it to others? I think it might be boring for some. It definitely took me awhile to take the plunge. But once I got to the third chapter or so, I was hooked! You also have to not mind that Larson goes back and forth from Holmes to Burnham. There came a point halfway through the story where you finally learn how Holmes goes about with his serial killings. Then all of a sudden he switches back to Burnham, and I was like nooooo...Burnham is boring...tell me about Holmes! But then I would start to learn more about the fair, and get so immersed in that, it would come back to Holmes and I was like, oh yeah, I almost forgot about Holmes. Personally, I think Larson does a pretty decent job intertwining the two stories. If it flowed more, this would most definitely have been 5 stars, but the two stories don't really seem to fit much at times except that the two events occurred at the same time. This book could most definitely be turned into a movie if done right. The World Fair was so grandiose that the story being told on the big screen would be oh so fitting. But if they do make it into a film, I hope they choose a good actor to play Holmes. Personally, I found him to be the most intriguing character, on par with Norman Bates.

Also, does anyone else find it strangely fitting that Holmes' real name was Mudgett?