The Alienist

Rating:
Summary: 1896 - Sigmund Freud Meets Sherlock Holmes
Review: After reading the first chapter alone of this book, I became instantly impressed. Caleb Carr's writing style is profoundly accurate and precise. With the "old school" English used throughout this book, you can honestly feel as if the events described are taking place in the past, thus giving this book the effect of taking you back to 1896. One thing that becomes apparent rather quickly after reading the first few chapters of this book, is that it is not a book based on the bad guy, being the killer, but on the good guy, being Dr. Laszo Kreizler, The Alienist. Not many murder/mystery books have the courage to base an entire plot on the detective himself, which makes this title stand out above most others. Over half way into this book, I had decided that I may just review this title with a full 5 stars, but after completing it, I realized that I had to give it 4 instead, because I did manage to find one small flaw about the book that was somewhat disturbing... A prospect near the end which I am not able to go into detail about. (I do not wish to ruin the ending for anyone by giving it away.) Above all else, Caleb Carr is a remarkable author, and I have already bought my copy of his continuation to this book, The Angel of Darkness.

Rating:
Summary: A Solid and interesting thriller
Review: As an avid reader of murder mysteries and thrillers, I can say that The Alienist really stands apart from all of the rest. One can really appreciate the amount of research Caleb Carr put into this novel to make the turn-of-the-century setting historically accurate. Extensive character development, gruesome descriptions of crime scenes and nail biting suspense combine to make a fascinating read. Almost every chapter ends with a little cliffhanger that keeps you wanting more and makes this enthralling book very hard to put down.

Rating:
Summary: Fasinating, yet slow
Review: I found this book to be facinating and compelling, but towards the middle I thought that it dragged out a little bit. The book captivated me, but it took sometime for the characters to reach their goal. It had an excellent build up of characters and I was glued to it.

Rating:
Summary: Promising Premise Squandered
Review: This could have been a really fun, interesting, and unique book, but Carr blows it by constantly intruding upon the story with his lame 20th C. scolding of 19th C. mores. The characters are vehicles to let us know that Carr thinks oppressing women and minorities is bad thing. I hate it when historical novels are populated with characters from Suburban USA circa 1990. Next!

Rating:
Summary: An excellent debut for Caleb Carr!!!!!!!
Review: The Alienist is one of the best books ever, combining a detective story, hard-core horror, harrowing suspense, great characters, and a richly textured setting with an all too believable story that is frightening in its intensity. Caleb Carr has fashioned a highly original novel that has etched its very deserved place in the history of literature.

Rating:
Summary: ... I want to be Sara Howard and be part of THE TEAM ...
Review: It's a book that gives one food for thought. One really wants to enter into the story and become one of them. Dr. Kreisler makes one think in a different way of ones childhood. This book had really caught me. Great book Mr. Carr!

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable, thrilling, and fun
Review: I could not put the book down once I started reading it. It was very enjoyable, although be warned that it can be quite gross.

Rating:
Summary: A dark, creepy treat for American history buffs
Review: I give "The Alienist" 4 stars not so much for the plot (although it does serve up many surprising twists and turns), but for the wealth of facts regarding life in New York City at the turn of the century. Often, the murder mystery takes a backseat to the numerous mini history lessons that pop up, regarding everything from forensic science, the American frontier, and child prostitution. The wealth of juicy information more than makes up for the somewhat thin characters and dialogue. Weighing in at 400 plus pages, this book drags occassionally. It is more educational then entertaining, and I recommend that you read it if you are very interested in history and criminal science.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely entertaining and suspensful!!!
Review: I am a little biased because I live in the Gramercy Park area and spend most evenings in the downtown area of NYC (especially Union Sq), and that is one reason why I really enjoyed this book. It was suspensful, original, the characters were interesting, and the history of NYC was great to read about. I also enjoyed all the passages where the team went into detail of who, what, where, etc. regarding the killer. I thought it was fascinating to read about how they came up with the conclusions they did. It could have been more suspensul if Mr. Carr wrote more about how the killer was stalking the team, but overall-QUITE ENJOYABLE.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful!
Review: This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. I read it a while ago, and I still go back to it every now and then!! It has so much insight, fabulous suspense, terrific characters, and everything else that make an A+++ thriller. If you enjoy a smart, well written, suspenseful novel, pick this one up. It's GREAT!!