The Alienist

Before CSI became all the rage and every man became a couch chair forensic expert, there was a time when forensic science and criminal profiling are considered abominations. Fingerprinting had just been discovered and still held little weight in a court of law. Psychiatry is regarded with deep suspicion and women have barely just been accepted into the work force. Meanwhile, a baffling new breed of criminal has entered the American society.[return][return]Narrated in the cynical voice of New York Times police reporter John Moore, The Alienist opens with the gruesome discovery of a body. The victim is a cross-dressing boy prostitute, another abomination that New York society would not acknowledge in 1896. Despite the similarities to several past cases, the corrupted police department refuses to give it any serious consideration.[return][return]The only person who cared enough about what this means is Dr Laszlo Kreizler, a renowned alienist. Prior to the 20th century, people suffering from mental illness were thought to be “alienated” from their true natures as well as from society. The experts who studied mental pathologies were known as alienists. [return][return]Backed by Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, Kreizler gathered together what was possibly the first CSI team consisting of himself, Moore, Roosevelt's secretary Sara Howard, and two Detective Sergeants who happen to be brothers, Marcus and Lucius Isaacson. [return][return]Playing equally vital roles are Kreizler's servants Cyrus Montrose and Stevie Taggert, both guilty of killing but proven through the argument of psychology that they are reacting to their upbringing and environment. Kreizler defends them in court and subsequently employs them.[return][return]The story is heavily focused on the bold new investigative techniques to track down the killer before he strikes again. Their efforts are frequently hampered by the New York gangs and policemen who are taking bribes from them. There are also important members of society who have their own reasons for not wanting the group to succeed.[return][return]The best part of this novel is the process. Of course they do catch their guy in the end, but that is less satisfying than the journey there. I thought that I was in a hurry to reach the ending, but I've read other comments that said the ending was a bit too rushed.[return][return]I noted with amusement that aside from the makeshift headquarters, most of their brainstorming happens over a meal in an expensive restaurant. [return][return]Like all other Carr novels I've read, his narrator tells the story in flashback, which means there's a lot of foreshadowing that something is about to go wrong. This is less irritating here than it was in Killing Time because The Alienist is indisputably a more superior book.[return]return