The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness

Father has urged me, as a film major, to write movie reviews on here.  And while I may, in fact, do that in the future, today I will take the opportunity to write a book review instead.  Actually, I will write two book reviews, combined into one.  The first book is entitled The Alienist and the second The Angel of Darkness, both written by the amazing author Caleb Carr.  The Angel of Darkness is a sort of sequel to the first novel, but in a very different sort of way.  It is only a sequel in the sense that both novels contain the exact same characters, but very few of the events of the former novel carry into to the latter.

Each book contains a different murder mystery case in which the characters of the novel work together to solve them.  The novels are both set in New York City in the 1890’s, a time when telephones were still a commodity and horse-drawn carriages were used instead of cars.  Caleb Carr brilliantly incorporates true American history into the novels along with his fictitious characters.  He writes about Theodore Roosevelt at a time when he was the chief of police for New York City and a mere secretary in the Navy.  The famous lawyer Clarence Darrow is also incorporated into the second novel.

Each of the characters seems to represent a different group or stereotype of the time period.  The narrator of the first novel is named John Shuyler Moore, a journalist for the prestigious New York Times.  In the novels, he serves to create publicity through the media.  From a novelist’s perspective, he is also the “dumb one” who has to have everything further explained to him.  Thus, he is a tool that Carr uses to explain things to the reader.

Dr. Laszlo Kreizler is the German alienist (psychologist) who heads an institute where he works with troubled children.  Kreizler is the brain of the group and a forerunner in the psychological field, developing new methods of treating troubled children and new ideas about why those children are the way they are.  He is also the one with all the money, as his family was quite rich, so he frequently treats the rest of the gang to dinner, where they discuss the details of the case.  Throughout the novels, Kriezler mentions the work of his esteemed colleagues, such as Freud and Pavlov.  This is another example of Carr’s brilliant incorporation of true history into his fictitious world.

Dr. Kreizler employs three servants, one of which narrates the second novel.  Stevie Taggert comes from the streets and provides the criminal mindset for the group.  At only 15 years old, he was once on his own in the streets of New York City, left to protect himself with his weapon of choice, giving him the nickname “Stevepipe.”  The doctor, however, rescued Stevie, providing him with a home and a good education in exchange for a bit of work such as driving the carriage.

Cyrus Montrose is another employee of Kreizler’s.  He is a large, full-grown black man, who sometimes serves as protector of the group.  Dr. Kreizler saved Cyrus as well.

Mary Palmer is the maid for Dr. Kreizler, but many things are revealed about her in the first novel, so I shall not discuss her here.  You must find out about her for yourselves.

Then, there are the Jewish Detective Sergeants Lucius and Marcus Isaacson.  They are employed for the New York City police, hired by Teddy Roosevelt himself.  These two brothers are the forerunners in the forensics field.  They employ the use of all the latest technologies such as fingerprinting, photography, and chemical tests.  Because of this, they are not very well liked by the rest of the police force, but they get the job done better than any cop can.

The final member of the group is Miss Sara Howard.  She provides the female insight for the male-dominated gang.  She is also a firm believer and supporter of women’s rights.  Unmarried, Miss Howard (as she is called by Stevie Taggert), does all she can to break through that metaphorical glass ceiling.  She carries a .45 caliber Colt with her everywhere she goes and believes that a shot a to any man’s leg will set him straight.

Overall, these two books are brilliant as well as brilliantly written, and I highly suggest them to everyone.  Though they are quite long and can take a while to get through, I assure you that they are both worth your time.