This is the slowest I’ve read something in quite a long time, but based on how quickly I was going through novels the last few months, this was a nice reprieve. After watching TNT’s The Alienist in 2018, I learned for the first time a few months ago that it was based on the book of the same name! So I headed to my local library and picked that puppy up!
I was pleased that the show played out almost exactly as the book laid it out. Any minor tweaks made caused no detrimental impact on the story and almost made more sense visually.
Just like the show, the book followed alienist (psychologist), Dr. Kreizler, journalist Mr. Moore, NYPD secretary, Sara Howard, twin detective sergeants Marcus and Lucius Isaacson, and a very young Theodore Roosevelt. This gang got together to clandestinely solve a vicious string of child murders. They decided to undertake the investigation because of a few factors. First and foremost, the murders were of children who were essentially cross dressing prostitutes. And second, the methods needed to solve the crimes were not accepted in courts, like profiling based off of personality traits, etc.
There was a ton of sleuthing to be had, but they also really had to watch their backs, because even though Roosevelt was the commissioner, he wasn’t advertising the case and there were still a lot of people who wanted the matter dropped. It was quite intense and I loved how the connections these people made were deep and thoughtfully portrayed on paper.
Honestly, it’s dark content, but if you like that kind of stuff you must definitely read this book, or at the very least, watch the show!