Now I know what you are thinking, and no, this book does not involve aliens. I can safely say this is one of my all time favorite books. It is set in turn of the century New York City and involved the emergence of a new kind of killer, a serial killer. In order to catch this killer a new science develops, both basic forensics and psychological profiling.
It is beautiful, dark and intriguing, not only for its descriptions of the crimes or creating the method for catching the killer, but for walking you New York City during this time period. The book doesn’t pull any punches and deals with very real and serious issues.
It is one of those books that you envy those who are reading it for the first time. Here an excerpt of the writeup from Barnes and Noble:
[i]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.
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.[/i]
I highly recommend anyone who hasn’t read it go and purchase it today. I have literally recommended it to dozens of people and all of them have thanked me after reading it.