By Caleb Carr
Random House 1994
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Action, Thriller
It's 1896 and New York has a new police commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt and he has a gruesome case on his hands. Reporter for the New York Times John Schuyler Moore has been called out in the middle of the night by his good friend, coroner and Alienist (Psychologist) Dr. Laszlo Kreizler. John has been asked to meet Dr. Kreizler at a horrific crime scene where a young male prostitute has been brutally murdered. Dr. Kreizler notices that this crime seems similar to another that he had seen not too long ago. He feels that one man is committing these horrible murders. Commissioner Roosevelt requests Dr. Kreizler and John Moore work together to solve this case; as he is working on cleaning up the New York police department he needs them to work in secret. Dr. Kreizler creates a team that will work together using the most modern techniques to solve this case. Joining these two are Detective Sergeants’ Lucius and Marcus Isaacson, brothers, and great detectives who are well versed in modern tactics. Sarah Howard works her way onto the team too. She is the commissioner’s assistant and one of the first women to work for the police department. She has dreams of one day being a detective herself. We follow this group through the seedy underbelly of 19th century New York’s most notorious brothels, chasing a killer and trying to stop him before he murders another young boy.
Let me preface this by letting you know that this was a novel written by a historian. Do with that what you will. But to me that means it is a story punctured with real facts and people that the author expects you would know if you have any knowledge of American history. This story is fictional, however many of the characters were real people. You may find this annoying, for me it merely made it a little difficult to get into. Occasionally though there were a few tid bits in there about a famous American serial killer and I found it merely distracting. It felt almost unnecessary, especially if you don’t know anything about Dr. H. H. Holmes. Because the author is a historian it seemed a little bit drawn out, packed with so much information that I felt it could have been shorter. Don’t let that prevent you from reading it, as it was a very good story.
To me this was a 19th century Criminal Minds, if you will allow me to draw a pop culture parallel. These were some of the earliest profilers. They used Dr. Kriezler’s knowledge, and used what they could glean from the killer and figure out who he was and why he was killing. I really enjoyed that. It was novel for me watching this unfold without modern technology, no Garcia (sorry if you don’t watch Criminal Minds you probably didn’t get that) to answer all their questions and do a quick search to find out all the information they needed. They had to do the leg work and that felt fresh to me. Everything is so instantaneous for us now, and I liked thinking about how much harder it was back then, it felt so much more satisfying.
Don’t let me fool you into thinking this was an easy search for our heroes. They followed the wrong train of thought at times and it lead them astray. They got caught up on the wrong clue, or looked at something the wrong way just as anyone else would have. This is why it was a good book, there weren’t any easy answers.
I have to say that my favorite character was Sara. She knew what was going on with all the other characters before they did. I related to her, she was spunky and independent. She was sort of the underdog of the group in the beginning and slowly became their champion and I loved her for that.
If you enjoy historical fiction, New York in particular, you will LOVE this book. It was really very good. I felt that it was a little bit too drawn out to get really excited and get really into it. I wasn’t racing to find out what happened at the end. But it was a very well written very good book that I thoroughly enjoyed.
My Verdict: Give it a try
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How do you feel about period novels? What did you like about this one? Was it a bit drawn out for you too?
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If you liked this, try:
Moriarty
Poisoner's Handbook
