I really liked this book. At first, I was a bit disoriented, and really, I blame my own sloppy brain for that. It’s been over a decade that I actually read literature instead of trashy romance novels and/or Internet fan fiction. So when I first started this one, I was in awe of its many syllabic words. I nearly put it down, deciding that my brain had flared out like a star many years ago and had permanently rotted away. But, no! I was able to catch on and looked forward to reading more and more. On a sad note, it was the first piece of fiction I’ve read that did not have any sex in it. I know. I’m awful.The story takes place in the early part of 1896 in New York City. The author was phenomenal in bringing the reader right into the city. I’ve never been to NYC and yet, this novel made it real for me. Not only that, but the small details were amazing. So not only did I feel as if I was in NYC, but I was in turn of the century NYC. Really impressive. The author peppered the text with side stories and information, from describing “the yellow brewery” as the upper crust society called the new and upstart Metropolitan Opera House, to the story of Dr. Holmes, the mass-murderer, and his unrepentant death. The author shows us Sing-Sing prison and little New Paltz. We also see the inner workings of the NYPD at the time and how it was trying to be reformed from a violent group of men who took pay from all the criminals into a working and solid force of crime solving and prevention.Onto the plot:The story is told in the first-person narrative by a New York Times journalist, John Moore. Moore is a good sort of man and knows his way around the city very well. He is friends with incredibly influential people, one of whom is the president of the Board of Commissioners of the NYPD, Theodore Roosevelt. Yes, the twenty-sixth president. Another friend of his is Dr. Lazlo Kreizler. Dr. Kreizler is one of the new and reviled psychiatrists, other wise known as Alienists (since people with mental disorders were thought to be alienated from society) and is the reason behind the title of the book.The thick of the novel is a murder investigation. Someone is killing and mutilating young boys in the skin trade. But the really interesting part is that the investigation is done with amazing “new” technology such as finger printing, which was still not considered evidence for a courtroom, and handwriting analysis. And, of course, the entire investigation hinges on something that they didn’t even think to have a name for: Criminal Profiling. The entire story is engrossing as the killer is put together piece by piece, from a mysterious entity to a real live person with a history and motive. And all this before we ever get a glimpse of him.But we don’t just learn of the killer’s life and tribulations, but also of the team of investigators: Moore and Kreizler, along with Sarah, one of the first women hired by the NYPD (as a secretary, but still one of the first) and of the Isaacson brothers, policemen who have trained in many new and untried fields. We also dabble in the lives of notable historical figures. I am sure I missed a few who made cameos as I read, but they all flow so seamlessly into and out of the story that you never think that the author is deliberately shoving them in there to give the story any heft or weight to it.The only thing that I would complain about was that two pertinent facts of the killer were slow to jump to the investigators’ minds at two separate times. I was mentally screaming, “Wait, wait! Don’t you remember XXX? That’s why!” But for the story I could see why they conveniently forgot. It was a small annoyance compared to the rest of this very intricately weaved mystery.All and all, this was an extremely well written tale and I can see why it’s one of those books everyone has or should read. I’m really glad I tried it out.
The Alienist is absolutely an engrossing read, but not what I would call an easy one. For one, it’s a first-person narrative, which somehow demands a bit more from the reader, forcing us to fill in the blanks and interpret what the narrator can’t know. Also, it’s full of archaic language, terms, and behaviours that serve to solidly establish the reader in turn-of-the-century New York, but which require a few chapters worth of dedication before a comfortable flow is established. Lastly, it’s a rather grim and gruesome tale that all but challenges and dares the reader to come along, rather than inviting us into the story.The story itself is set in the nearly unrecognizable New York City of 1896 where a serial killer – a term not yet invented – is brutally murdering young, transvestite boy prostitutes. With neither the public nor the police interested in lives or deaths of these young ‘abominations’ to society, there is very little incentive to investigate.Fortunately, Dr. Lazlo Kreizler has taken notice of the similarities between the murders and has chosen to investigate himself. A new (and generally distasteful) breed of doctor, Kreizler is a psychiatrist (or an Alienist), dedicated to the study of those with mental disorders who are alienated from proper society. In many ways, he is a precursor to the likes of Jason Gideon and David Rossi (despite comments to the contrary, this book is more Criminal Minds than CSI), just as eccentric, and just as misunderstood.In many ways, the experience of the book is one of learning and discovery. It’s not just another police procedural padded with criminal profiling and crime scene investigations – it’s a story about how those arts and sciences were first developed, applied, and perfected through trial and error (even while being ridiculed and rejected by society). What’s perhaps most exciting about it is that the story never develops quite how you expect, and certainly does not follow the formula of its contemporary works of fiction. Yes, there are the usual red herrings, but more often than not it’s the imperfect science of profiling that leads us astray.Definitely a fantastic read, provided you have the patience to settle into its style, and the free time to allow the book to draw you in. It’s not the type of book you can whip out to read a quick chapter on a coffee break, but that’s not always a bad thing. Sometimes we really do want that deeper, more difficult read, since the reward is always the sweeter for the effort we put into reaching the end.
What do You think about The Alienist (2006)?
This is a book I've meant to read for a while. It was finally bumped up from its spot down the bottom of my TBR pile thanks to this month's group read for the Mystery, Crime and Thriller Group.Set in New York City in 1896, the novel tells the story of a team set up to investigate a series of murders, mostly of young male prostitutes. The investigation team is the brainchild of Theodore Roosevelt, NYC Police Commissioner in his pre-White House days, who is dedicated to cleaning up corruption in the city's police department and to solving a series of crimes that powerful forces would prefer to leave unsolved. The team is headed by psychiatrist Dr Laszlo Kreizler and includes a couple of eccentric police detectives, a journalist (who serves as the narrator) and a young woman who works as Roosevelt's secretary and wants to be a police officer. What appealed to me most about the book is the historical and geographical setting. Carr makes 1896 NYC live and breathe. The book is packed with descriptions of and information about the locations in which the characters find themselves. In addition, real life identities are woven into the narrative. I had lots of fun reading while checking out people and places using Wikipedia and Google Maps. What I liked rather less are the anachronisms. This aspect of the novel is most evident in the attitudes of the central good-guy characters. To a person they demonstrate remarkably progressive attitudes towards issues of gender, race, class and sexual orientation. The characters seem to belong more to the 1990s than to the 1890s. Another issue I have with the novel is that it has the feel of a contemporary psychological profiler / serial killer story plonked down into a historical setting. I appreciate that this has more to do with my failure to read the book earlier than it has with the book itself. When it was first published in 1994, that sub-genre of crime fiction wasn't as ubiquitous as it has since become. Readers should know that the novel contains some graphic scenes, as is to be expected in a serial murder story. Given what can be found in other novels of the same type, these scenes are not extreme. However, the fact that the victims are children and young people heightens their impact. Overall, I'm glad I finally got around to reading this one. The narrative held my interest and I loved the setting. However, I don't find myself enthusiastic about reading the sequel. I suspect that this will be a once only read, although I would love to read more about NYC in the 1890s.
—Kim
This is one of those books that everybody read during a six month period a few years back. So I just got around to it, and man, what a disappointment. I enjoy historical fiction. I think books like From Hell and Billy Bathgate and the like are a lot of fun and make me smarter as well. The Alienist has a perfectly passable mystery, but it's full of barely sketched characters and the writing is just so pedestrian that I was never drawn in. It's written in the first person, so I found myself wondering if I didn't enjoy the writer's prose or if I just didn't like the way people talked in the late 1800's. It has to be the former. There's no lyricism to the language, no pop. It just sits there on the page, and the book's narrator is such a colorless stand-in for the reader that he brings no point-of-view to the goings-on around him. If the narrator doesn't have an interesting voice, why not just write in the third person?There are also somewhere north of 40 scenes of people sitting around their headquarters discussing what just happened. I know what happened. I just read it. Thanks.Extremely disappointing.
—Dubin
If I had to sum up The Alienist with one word it would be this: plodding. The description of the book on Goodreads calls it 'fast-paced'. False advertising right there! Fast-paced it most certainly was not. LOLThe book was a bit of a disappointment in various ways. One, I didn't feel much of an emotional connection with the main characters. I don't know why ... whether it was the author's writing style, the time period, or what. But I just wasn't drawn in to their world or their personalities. I cared more about some of the sideline characters than any of the primary ones.Two, it seemed that at any opening, the author took the time to go off on historical tangents that didn't appear to serve much purpose for the plot but felt like they were primarily done to provide a 'feel' for the environment. Sometimes those diversions can work in a book, but more often than not, in this book they didn't. At least, not for me. I kept thinking ... "Get ON with it!!"Three, the ending was rather anti-climactic. There was this huge build-up about the killer and when the 'face off' occurred it was just ... meh. That could have been due to the fact that by the time the ending of the book came around I was eager for it to be over and done with, so there wasn't much I was inclined to appreciate by that point.The reason I can't give the book three stars is because on Goodreads, three stars is for 'liked it'. I didn't really like it as much as I'd wanted to, so a two star label fits better for me - two stars is for 'it was ok'. And that's how I feel about the book. It wasn't great, it wasn't the worst book I've ever read, I didn't really LIKE it a whole lot, so it was just ... okay.My feelings about this book come as a surprise to me, given the great reviews I'd read. I'd been looking forward to reading/listening to it, but by the time it was over I was thinking: FINALLY!
—Dalton Lynne
