LD Durham's Reviews > The Alienist

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.