Hooray! You have added the first book to your bookshelf. Check it out now!
[−]
  • Search Digit-count Valid ISBN Invalid ISBN Valid Barcode Invalid Barcode
Blog this item

Alienist

By Caleb Carr

(59)

| School & Library Binding | 9780613072199

Like Alienist?
Join aNobii to see if your friends read it, and discover similar books!

Sign up for free

Book Description

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 horriContinue

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.

Critics

  • Archive Review: Caleb Carr 'The Alienist'

    Editor's note: Caleb Carr's grondbreaking work of historical fiction was a must-read when it came out,and it remains so. It makes a perfect complement to Richard Zacks' 'Island of Vice.' If you've already read the Carr novel, read 'Island of Vice.' T ... (read full critics)

    bookotron published on Thu, 19 Apr 2012

  • The Alienist

    The historical mystery was once a pretty moribund sub-genre. Sure, known genre authors such as Anne Perry operated there, and the occasional dabbler such as Mark Frost would bring life with the publication of a novel like 'The List of Seven'. But the ... (read full critics)

    bookotron published on Mon, 13 Sep 2010

0 Review

Login or Sign Up to write a review
No reviews for this book yet

Book Details

Improve data of this book

Prices Change currency & sellers

ISBN Edition List Sale Seller
9780613072199 School & Library Binding $16.85 -- The Book Depository
Other editions →
+ 1 copy tradable: →
Added to Shelf Added to Wish List

Inline Translation Mode

Left click to navigate, right click to translate.

inline translation guide

or close

Inline translation is not ready for this page yet.

Inline translation mode.

Share this page with your friends.

The viewport has not loaded.