The Alienist by Caleb Carr - 4.5*

[Teodora]

4.5* - I thought for a while if I should round it up or down. In the end, I chose up because the book does have some memorable characters, a good plot, and a great sense of space.

During the book's first pages, there was a lot of telling, and I kept thinking about how it would be to rewrite the book from a more 'showing' perspective. As I advanced with the story, I forgot to do it, and in the end, I'm not even sure it would've made for a better book, only a different one. The author writes a captivating story, and every word he uses helps build that.

The story is a psychological thriller set at the end of nineteenth-century New York. In a way, I felt like it was a historical version of the TV show Criminal Minds. The characters try to catch a serial killer they know nothing about, and they start by profiling him. The book highlights the advances in psychology during that era in a way that makes you feel very grounded in time. There are twists and turns, a nice journey ahead of every reader.

The book also has an interesting cast of characters. Actually, the main character, John Moore (who is the one who tells the story from a first-person perspective) is the least interesting of them. But that's all right because I felt like the actual main character of the book is Laszlo Krizler, the psychiatrist. There is also a pair of quirky but smart detectives - brothers, a woman with feminist views, and Laszlo's servants, all with an interesting past.

However, the best feature of this book I consider to be the setting and the way it comes alive almost to represent a character in itself. The author did extensive research on the New York of that time, and from his book pours a picture of it that almost makes you feel like you're living there. In a way, the sense of space in this book reminded me of Carlos Ruiz Zafón and his The Shadow of the Wind. The books aren't much similar (they're both historical mysteries, but the style of writings differ much), yet there was something common I loved in both books, and that relates to the sense of space.

This is a book I would recommend. It's not necessarily an easy read in the way most mysteries are, but it is a delightful book nonetheless.

I'm not sure if this book has any regency tag as it fits only the timeframe but not the place. However, I found the book on this list: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

[Booknblues]

Great review. I read this in the 1990's and loved it.

[Book Concierge]

I liked this one as well. Read it with my book club back quite a while back (before joining either Goodreads or Shelfari). We were a little disappointed in how he treated the female characters.

It's a great Victorian-era mystery. I've yet to read any of the other books in the series, though.

[Barbara M]

I really enjoyed this book too. I completely agree with your assessment of the sense of place being such a big part of the story. In fact, the minute I see the title, it brings back the atmosphere of the place.

[Theresa]

I have an autographed first edition hardcover around here somewhere, which I read and loved. I took a NYC walking tour organized and led by Caleb Carr after the book's release where he showed all the still existing bits of NY C that inspired him and were included, as well as locations that have changed from what was there at time of the story. He was wonderfully nerdy and new those parts of the City intimately.