2011 Gothic Reading Challenge #1

Alright, let me start off by saying that The Alienist was not a terrible read, but I did find myself wandering quite a bit as I read it. On this latter point I blame myself, because one compliment Carr unarguably deserves is that he can set a scene. I frequently found myself transported to the various scenes and settings of this book, 1890's Manhattan. The characterization was also pretty admirable, both real historical and purely fictitious characters well fleshed out, which gave their stories weight, as I was then invested in them as real.

My complaints begin with Carr's introduction of forensics of the age. Not to suggest it wasn't interesting to see the disparity between what was considered normal and radical forensics at the time, just that the pace slowed considerably whenever it was brought up. And that leads to the second complaint, overall pacing. In the first act the book moved swiftly, as is to be expected of any introductory faze of a thriller. The third act was fantastically paced, and I couldn't help but finish that last third in less than a day. But, it seemed that in the second act, the bulk of the investigation into the killings, the pacing was just off. I understand that in the real world investigations take time and are generally speaking monotonous things, but this is a book, a thriller no less, and to go nearly 100 pages, a 5th of the book, without any significant events seems like an odd choice.

Again, even with all that said, this was NOT a bad read. Perhaps my problems with its pacing were simply that, MY problems, and maybe it was a poor choice to read something meant for a mass audience after reading more academic works, but I stand by my criticism of the central pacing.

Overall rating: Good Vacation Read