The Alienist: A Novel

In 1896, John Schuyler Moore, crime reporter is urgently summoned to the scene of a murdered adolescent boy in the lower east side of Manhattan. Upon arrival, he sees his friends, Dr. Laslo Kreizler, a psychologisy (alienist) and Theodore Roosevelt, newly appointed commissioner of police. The boy was dressed in a girl's cloting and had been disfigured and murdered. Roosevelt tells them that this is the third such case and the others were not publicized because they were poor and no one cared about them. With rampant corruption in the police department, Roosevelt wants to set up a private task force to find the killer. Laslo and John are part of it as is John's friend, Sara Howard, an independent thinking woman who was a secretary at the police department. Also on the team are two intelligent and honest police officers Lucus and Marcus Isaacson. The descriptions of New York around the beginning of last century are realistic and delightful. The characters eat at Delmonico's Restaurant where they might meet Diamond Jim Brady or Lillian Russell, they pass the Brooklyn Bridge, Wanamaker's Department Store and Christ Church. This police procedural is skillfully done with a huge cast of characters, many who were taken from the pages of history. The author also informs us of such advances as the use of finger prints and criminal profiling. Caleb Carr is from the area where the story unfolds and his creative vision and research are evident. I enjoyed the story and as I read it, I felt as if I was experiencing an episode of Walter Cronkite's '70s TV show, You Are There.

I didn't just read this book, I moved into it. I lived and breathed every word, and was horrified to find myself at the end. The best book ever written about New York city.

My Brooklyn-born and first generation Grandmother (1894, before the "anschluss" to a greater NYC) told me yarns of the old days ---without the gore---that resonate wonderfully in Caleb's narrative.... Here the horror and thoughtful warmth come to life...