The Alienist

Author/Guide: Caleb Carr

Why a Booktrail?

1896: Book one in the Alienist story

ISBN: 978-0751574173
Genre: Crime, Gothic, Historical, Horror

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What you need to know before your trail

Some things never change.

New York City, 1896. Hypocrisy in high places is rife, police corruption commonplace, and a brutal killer is terrorising young male prostitutes.

Unfortunately for Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, the psychological profiling of murderers is a practice still in its infancy, struggling to make headway against the prejudices of those who prefer the mentally ill – and the ‘alienists’ who treat them – to be out of sight as well as out of mind.

But as the body count rises, Roosevelt swallows his doubts and turns to the eminent alienist Dr Laszlo Kreizler to put a stop to the bloody murders – giving Kreizler a chance to take him further into the dark heart of criminality, and one step closer to death.

Locations

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Travel Guide

New York

This is not the kind of New York you would ever want to wander into in real life!

The stench, dirt, poverty is evident from page one and it never lets up. Crime scenes of all kinds are grim of course but those in this book particularly so. They involve children, young boys and those who are abused within brothels of all descriptions.

One such brothel which really did exist at the time: Paresis Hall

Paresis Hall, was a brothel and gay bar in in the 1890s. It was also known as Columbia Hall but the more common name was that taken from the general term for a general term for syphilitic insanity.[3] The building contained both a bar and a beer garden on the ground floor, with two floors of rooms above that were rented out. There was apparently one of the first transgender organizations also renting space here.

The bodies of those found are in some of the most historic places in the city: Castle Clinton or Fort Clinton

Castle Clinton or Fort Clinton, used to be known as Castle Garden, is a circular sandstone fort – particularly good for hiding and escape. There is a grisly scene here.

The city was awash with hansom cabs and many good bars which those of theAlienist frequent. Delmonico’s is a favourite haunt in the book when they’re not hard at work at their HQ at 808 Broadway.

All around was the squalor and the densely populated, disease-ridden, crime-infested slum also known as the Five Points.

Streetview Maps

B) New York City - Washington Square North

F) New York City - Bleecker Street

H) New York City - Castle Park crime scene

J) New York City - Alienist HQ

Booktrailer Review

Susan: @thebooktrailer

Having seen the new Netflix version of the book, I was intrigued to read this and so I did. I still haven’t seen the whole series but the clips I have seen really interested me so I was excited to start read this!

This was a brilliant read if not a bit grim to say the least! The nature of the crimes and the fact they are directed at children are heartbreaking to read about it’s the psychology around the crimes and the growing awareness of the mind of a killer that I found to be the most fascinating. The discussion the three main characters have about this case, about their awareness of finger printing, mind games, mental health etc are utterly enthralling and although I read a lot with a hanky over my mouth as the stench and gore was very strong at times, I found that I couldn’t take my eyes of this and wanted to be with John, Sarah and Laslo right until they solved this.

The characters are all very very well developed and as their past stories come to light, the entire book takes on a cinematic quality and historical intrigue as they come to life from the page. I loved the narration of John and felt him to be a brilliant way to see all of this through the eyes of someone who was a police reporter at the time and not at the centre of the police force. Or course I read the book with Luke Evans who played him in mind (as I did the other characters) and I think the casting particularly inspired.

The banter, hostility and friendship between the three made me feel part of the team – but the fact Sarah must fight harder for her rightful position in the investigation just because she’s a woman made me realise how little somethings have changed Luckily the setting has, as although New York in the 1800s is evoked with the five senses in all its gritty, gory glory, you would not want to walk down any of these streets for real!

New York of course now is noting like this, but many of the lcoations, in fact most of them, are real – the nature and number of the brothels was an eye -opener as the most notorious of these was real. Interestingly, the Netflix drama was filmed in Budapest, but you can still very much walk in the footsteps of the characters in the big apple today.

Ghoulishly gory but a fascinating and highly immersive read.