The Alienist, by Caleb Carr

It's the late 19th century and a crazed killer is on the loose on the streets of New York City.  In Caleb Carr's The Alienist, a newspaper reporter teams up with an alienist--an archaic term for a psychologist--to track down the killer.  In one sense, this is a pretty standard criminal investigation novel.  They profile the killer, find evidence and draw connections that the run-on-the-mill police detectives miss, and get themselves into trouble. 

The setting of The Alienist is the best part.  The culture and geography of New York City is at once foreign and distinctly recognizable.  For lovers of NYC nostalgia, this trip to the past will be a thrill.  The nature of the crimes the reporter and the alienist investigate is repulsive.  The targets are young boys who work as prostitutes.  The descriptions of this tawdry trade are shocking and eye-opening.  (I assume Carr bases this on historical fact.  I'm either too naive or sheltered to have been aware of how wide-spread this culture was.)  The murderer at large took these boys and mutilated them grotesquely.  Thankfully one can skim over Carr's vivid descriptions to minimize the mental imagery.

Besides the dark, dreary, and stomach-churning crimes, Carr's protagonists have too easy a time getting to the bottom of the case for my taste.  That makes for a breezy, fast-paced read, but it was a little unsatisfying, like a made-for-TV movie that hits the right buttons but doesn't grip you.  In terms of entertainment value, suspense, and the "I can't wait to read something else by this author" factor, The Alienist is just OK.