Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Alienist by Caleb Carr

41 reviews

turtle_puff95's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

I think having watched the TV show first both helped and hindered my reading experience. I'm usually one to read the book first and then pick out how the TV shows or movies for the plot wrong. I think on this case though, it helped because if I had just picked this up and started reading it, I'm not sure I would have finished it. The deaths were brutal, and to children no less. Not really a subject I read often. If I hadn't already known what was going to happen, I could have seen me dnfing this book.
Now I do think it slightly hindered my experience because I kept thinking of the show and wondering why they added certain things that was not in the book.

The man with the silver teeth in the show is obviously a red herring meant to make us think he's the killer. Such a man wasn't in the book at all. Also, the last boy they managed to save in the show was Joseph, the boy Moore had befriended. In the book, he's killed and sent to Moore in a sack 😰

I still finished this rather quickly and the story kept me listening, but I think I listen to things faster the more macabre they are. It's my way of getting them over with faster.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, Animal death, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Medical content, Stalking, Bullying, Sexual assault, Mental illness, and Racial slurs

thatgirlemili's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Murder, Child death, and Blood

Minor: Cannibalism

swapacoinforafish's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I enjoyed this book very much. The story was gripping and the writing very succinct. I was invested every step of the way and really enjoyed the range of characters.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse, Mental illness, Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Cannibalism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, and Torture

mirrorofneptune's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

This is an interesting book, but decidedly not for me. I found the premise interesting and liked the main cast of characters, but I found myself repeatedly “checking out” and then checking back in as the plot progressed– there were a couple plot detours I think the book could’ve done without that might’ve helped the pacing. I can’t speak to the historical accuracy of the methods used by the investigative team, but some of their leaps of psychological logic really tested my suspension of disbelief. I was honestly done long before we got to the big confrontation with the perpetrator. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Child death, Murder, Torture, and Pedophilia

itsjadenbaby's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I liked the use of an Alienist and a journalist as the protagonists of the story. It takes the story to a new place where a cop protagonist couldn’t go. I really enjoyed it, the audiobook is a solid narration.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Child abuse, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Trafficking, and Murder

Moderate: Torture, Gun violence, Hate crime, Blood, Homophobia, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Animal death, Cannibalism, and Police brutality

raginsagein's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Child abuse, and Child death

Moderate: Alcohol, Addiction, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Drug use, Antisemitism, Deadnaming, Classism, Colonisation, and Cannibalism

irishgypsie's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Animal cruelty, and Blood

that_bookworm_guy's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is a dark story that has a pot of descriptions and explanation of the plot and the history. I've read reviews that have mentioned it's a lot of description and details, but I absolutely love that

The story is long but doesn’t feel as long as it looks. I was a little intimated by the length but it feels shorter than it is. 

I really enjoyed this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Vomit, Body horror, Medical content, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Slavery, Torture, Blood, Sexual content, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

saint_mikael's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Child death

hambo221's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, and Sexual content