Set in 1896 New York City, this psychological mystery involves a serial killer who kills and mutilates young boys who dress up as girls. The narrator of this book, John Moore, is a reporter for the New York Times and good friends with a psychologist, or as they were known at the time, alienist, Dr. Lazlo Kreizler. Kreizler is the one who figures out that there is a killer loose and contacts the police commissioner, Teddy Roosevelt, a man he met in college to see about setting up an independent and secretive investigative group that would include Moore and the determined Sara Howard, Teddy's secretary, Lucius and Marcus Isaacson, two brothers who are detectives on the police force that can be trusted and who have knowledge of forensic sciences.
Kreizler's servants, Cyrus, a large black man who acts as bodyguard and whatever Kriezler needs and the youth Stevie, who drives his carriage and runs errands. Mary keeps the house, but Kreizler has kept her out of it for her safety. All three of them have committed murder and Kreizler has testified for them in court as to their sanity and recommended that they are remanded over to his care rather than go to an asylum.
Kreizler believes that by studying the victims they can figure out who the killer is. The methods they use are ones that are used today like examining the possible childhood and its effects on the present. Some of them, though are not. Like taking a picture of the dead person's eye in the hope of catching a picture of the killer.
The killer keeps them guessing for a while about how he gets to his victims since no one remembers them ever leaving their rooms. Also, why does he leave the bodies near water and what is the point of the mutilation that occurs after death?
The narrator can be overly dramatic at times, but I really do like him. My favorite character though is Sara. She has to overcome so much to prove that she can be a part of the team, and honestly, she's smarter than Moore. She's also a crack shot, which Lucius and Marcus, the cops, are not. It was also pretty cool to see Teddy Roosevelt who is one of my favorite presidents as a character. This was a great book that did hold some surprises for me and was a bit of a mental exercise in a good way. It was like putting together an intriguing puzzle using pieces garnered by what were at the time new found ways. It's amazing to see how far we have come, but it's also amazing to see how advanced they were in their investigation, but not unrealistically so. This was truly a book worth reading.
Quotes
The he bolted for the door, leaving me to apologize more fully for the abrupt departure—which,not surprisingly Wissler didn’t seem to mind at all. Scientists’ minds may jump around like amorous toads, but they do seem to accept such behavior in one another.-Caleb Carr (The Alienist p 290)
Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Alienist-Novel-Lazlo-Kreizler-Book-ebook/dp/B000JMKV9Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1514985312&sr=8-1&keywords=the+alienist+by+caleb+carr
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