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The Alienist: A Novel
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Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Author: Caleb Carr
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $10.17
You Save: $ 4.78 ( 32% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Author: Caleb Carr
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Average Customer Rating:
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The Alienist: A Novel Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780812976144
ISBN: 0812976142
Label: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 512
Publication Date: 2006-10-24
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Product Release Date: 2006-10-24
Studio: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780812976144
ISBN: 0812976142
Label: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 512
Publication Date: 2006-10-24
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Product Release Date: 2006-10-24
Studio: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Editorial Review of The Alienist: A Novel
The year is 1896, the place, New York City. On a cold March night New York Times reporter John Schuyler Moore is summoned to the East River by his friend and former Harvard classmate Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a psychologist, or "alienist." On the unfinished Williamsburg Bridge, they view the horribly mutilated body of an adolescent boy, a prostitute from one of Manhattan's infamous brothels.
The newly appointed police commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt, in a highly unorthodox move, enlists the two men in the murder investigation, counting on the reserved Kreizler's intellect and Moore's knowledge of New York's vast criminal underworld. They are joined by Sara Howard, a brave and determined woman who works as a secretary in the police department. Laboring in secret (for alienists, and the emerging discipline of psychology, are viewed by the public with skepticism at best), the unlikely team embarks on what is a revolutionary effort in criminology-- amassing a psychological profile of the man they're looking for based on the details of his crimes. Their dangerous quest takes them into the tortured past and twisted mind of a murderer who has killed before. and will kill again before the hunt is over.
Fast-paced and gripping, infused with a historian's exactitude, The Alienist conjures up the Gilded Age and its untarnished underside: verminous tenements and opulent mansions, corrupt cops and flamboyant gangsters, shining opera houses and seamy gin mills. Here is a New York during an age when questioning society's belief that all killers are born, not made, could have unexpected and mortal consequences.
From the Paperback edition.
The newly appointed police commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt, in a highly unorthodox move, enlists the two men in the murder investigation, counting on the reserved Kreizler's intellect and Moore's knowledge of New York's vast criminal underworld. They are joined by Sara Howard, a brave and determined woman who works as a secretary in the police department. Laboring in secret (for alienists, and the emerging discipline of psychology, are viewed by the public with skepticism at best), the unlikely team embarks on what is a revolutionary effort in criminology-- amassing a psychological profile of the man they're looking for based on the details of his crimes. Their dangerous quest takes them into the tortured past and twisted mind of a murderer who has killed before. and will kill again before the hunt is over.
Fast-paced and gripping, infused with a historian's exactitude, The Alienist conjures up the Gilded Age and its untarnished underside: verminous tenements and opulent mansions, corrupt cops and flamboyant gangsters, shining opera houses and seamy gin mills. Here is a New York during an age when questioning society's belief that all killers are born, not made, could have unexpected and mortal consequences.
From the Paperback edition.
Customer Reviews of The Alienist: A Novel
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: I shouldn't have waited so long...
Review: Do you ever have one of those books that you go "I'll buy this later" or "I'll read this another time" for years? This one was my white whale. For years I picked up and put this book down over and over and till finally I gave in and starting reading it. I usually read science fiction and action/adventure so this was quite a shock to my system, and it was a good shock indeed. You would think for such a long book the pacing would have been like a dinosaur, but instead I flew from page to page, chapter through chapter eating up this tale of a horror stalking the slums of 1896 New York. Mr. Carr did an especially good job with characterization, bring his crew to life including New York itself. Don't start this book if you have any plans for the next couple of days cause you will break every date until you've finished this book. 5 stars, definitely.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Raging Roosevelt Meets Freud
Review: The Alienist is probably about 100 pages too long, yet nonetheliss quite thrilling. It is not really a mystery, more a study in morbid psychology. Its characters are varied, from Theodore Roosevelt down to the boy-whore rapist and killer. Some of the details seem anachronistic to me, more what New York was like some twenty years earlier. Overall, if you like gory thrillers thick with atmosphere and with splendid character development, this is a book you will want to read more than once.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The Alienist
Review: Caleb Carr has the ability to mix historical facts with fiction and he tells a story that truly takes on a life of its own. This is a great book set in old time New York and it is gritty and interesting and a very good read. I was mesmerized right from the beginning and entertained throughout.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A who's who of 1890's New York
Review: I'm a sucker for pieces written in, set in, or about the late 19th century, so I had to read Caleb Carr's _The Alienist_. It is essentially a psychological thriller, as what is now known as a forensic psychologist (and a team of others) try to track down serial killer prowling the poor and immigrant neighborhoods of 1890's New York. The story itself warrants 3 stars - its good, but far from great. However, Carr's meticulous attention to detail and his veritable "who's who" of New York at the turn of the last century warrants an additional star.
The variety and scope of characters is truly outstanding, from the immeadiately recognizable (Teddy Roosevelt, J.P Morgan) to the slightly more esoteric (Jacob Riis and Lincoln Steffens) to the obscure (Charles Delmonico, Paul Kelly, Anthony Comstock for example.) The interactions between these characters and their respective roles in society (from the fabulously wealthy and influential to the seedy underbelly of the city) made an otherwise unremarkable book tremendously enjoyable.
Beyond the name dropping, Carr also impressed me with his fluency in criminology and forensics - from Bertillion's anthropomorphy to Macleod's handwriting analysis, to the nascent "profiling" (from which the book gets its title), the changing nature of crime and criminology as well of American society as a whole was vividly brought to life. Those not familiar with historical (or sociological) minutae may be impressed with Carr's descriptions of Manhattan's geography - from the aquarium at Battery Park to Wananmaker's to the Museum of Natural History, Carr walks you through the New York of 100 years ago, providing context for characters and places alike.
Clearly he is a master of capturing a sense of place and time - I regret that the story itself was not similarly engaging. This may be a function of my enthusiasm for the characters and setting overpowering the story line, but I found the procedure of collecting and analyzing the clues, piecing together the profile of the murderer much less engaging than journey around and through the city as the crucial elements were gathered.
If this is any indication of the style and strength of Carr's writing, I will certainly read other works by him, if for nothing other than his ability to transport me to another place and time.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Not a fan of the era but this book is great
Review: I tend not to enjoy books, fiction, non-fiction or fiction based on non-fiction on this era in American history but this book is extraordinary. Carr does an exemplary job of portraying the darkness of NY and the tenements and despair being a very effective backdrop for this equally dark story. Carr is a master of good old fashioned mystery, using real characters and real landmarks that makes this book all the more effective.
This is one of the reasons I enjoyed The Anatomy of Deception by Goldstone. The two are similar although, Carr is much more effective.
While The Anatomy of Deception uses characters not as well known to the reader, a little research of those characters history will no doubt make The Anatomy of Deception a good read for those who enjoyed the Alienist.
The Alienist is a very good book and I enjoyed it immensely.
Review Summary: I shouldn't have waited so long...
Review: Do you ever have one of those books that you go "I'll buy this later" or "I'll read this another time" for years? This one was my white whale. For years I picked up and put this book down over and over and till finally I gave in and starting reading it. I usually read science fiction and action/adventure so this was quite a shock to my system, and it was a good shock indeed. You would think for such a long book the pacing would have been like a dinosaur, but instead I flew from page to page, chapter through chapter eating up this tale of a horror stalking the slums of 1896 New York. Mr. Carr did an especially good job with characterization, bring his crew to life including New York itself. Don't start this book if you have any plans for the next couple of days cause you will break every date until you've finished this book. 5 stars, definitely.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Raging Roosevelt Meets Freud
Review: The Alienist is probably about 100 pages too long, yet nonetheliss quite thrilling. It is not really a mystery, more a study in morbid psychology. Its characters are varied, from Theodore Roosevelt down to the boy-whore rapist and killer. Some of the details seem anachronistic to me, more what New York was like some twenty years earlier. Overall, if you like gory thrillers thick with atmosphere and with splendid character development, this is a book you will want to read more than once.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The Alienist
Review: Caleb Carr has the ability to mix historical facts with fiction and he tells a story that truly takes on a life of its own. This is a great book set in old time New York and it is gritty and interesting and a very good read. I was mesmerized right from the beginning and entertained throughout.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A who's who of 1890's New York
Review: I'm a sucker for pieces written in, set in, or about the late 19th century, so I had to read Caleb Carr's _The Alienist_. It is essentially a psychological thriller, as what is now known as a forensic psychologist (and a team of others) try to track down serial killer prowling the poor and immigrant neighborhoods of 1890's New York. The story itself warrants 3 stars - its good, but far from great. However, Carr's meticulous attention to detail and his veritable "who's who" of New York at the turn of the last century warrants an additional star.
The variety and scope of characters is truly outstanding, from the immeadiately recognizable (Teddy Roosevelt, J.P Morgan) to the slightly more esoteric (Jacob Riis and Lincoln Steffens) to the obscure (Charles Delmonico, Paul Kelly, Anthony Comstock for example.) The interactions between these characters and their respective roles in society (from the fabulously wealthy and influential to the seedy underbelly of the city) made an otherwise unremarkable book tremendously enjoyable.
Beyond the name dropping, Carr also impressed me with his fluency in criminology and forensics - from Bertillion's anthropomorphy to Macleod's handwriting analysis, to the nascent "profiling" (from which the book gets its title), the changing nature of crime and criminology as well of American society as a whole was vividly brought to life. Those not familiar with historical (or sociological) minutae may be impressed with Carr's descriptions of Manhattan's geography - from the aquarium at Battery Park to Wananmaker's to the Museum of Natural History, Carr walks you through the New York of 100 years ago, providing context for characters and places alike.
Clearly he is a master of capturing a sense of place and time - I regret that the story itself was not similarly engaging. This may be a function of my enthusiasm for the characters and setting overpowering the story line, but I found the procedure of collecting and analyzing the clues, piecing together the profile of the murderer much less engaging than journey around and through the city as the crucial elements were gathered.
If this is any indication of the style and strength of Carr's writing, I will certainly read other works by him, if for nothing other than his ability to transport me to another place and time.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Not a fan of the era but this book is great
Review: I tend not to enjoy books, fiction, non-fiction or fiction based on non-fiction on this era in American history but this book is extraordinary. Carr does an exemplary job of portraying the darkness of NY and the tenements and despair being a very effective backdrop for this equally dark story. Carr is a master of good old fashioned mystery, using real characters and real landmarks that makes this book all the more effective.
This is one of the reasons I enjoyed The Anatomy of Deception by Goldstone. The two are similar although, Carr is much more effective.
While The Anatomy of Deception uses characters not as well known to the reader, a little research of those characters history will no doubt make The Anatomy of Deception a good read for those who enjoyed the Alienist.
The Alienist is a very good book and I enjoyed it immensely.