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.

posted Dec 16, 2007 at 12:03PM

This is probably the very best book I have ever read. Exquisitely written, but fast-paced and tawdry enough to be just a great read.

posted Jul 12, 2008 at 10:32AM

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