Reviews

The Angel of Darkness by Caleb Carr

mrsdryoder's review against another edition

4.0

The first 150 pages or so were slow going, but did serve to remind me of what happened in The Alienist. Long book, but good read overall. I love stories that involve shrinks. :)

jall_rym's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.5

jordan03's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

kitdunsmore's review against another edition

5.0

Another page turner that I could not put down. Except for using the same characters and setting (and also being a good read), this story is really different from its predecessor. Again, a psychologist and his detective friends go after a serial killer, but this time they know exactly who they are after much earlier in the game. Result: a much scarier story in which we are constantly aware of the murderer and afraid for our heroes at every turn. As in the first book, the mystery is slowly unraveled over time and leads to a dramatic confrontation with lots of danger and violence along the way. Another 19th-century procedural, complete with courtroom drama, and just as satisfying as the first book was to read.
It's not however a perfect book. I got annoyed with the choice of narrator whose voice is uneven. Supposedly he grew up on the streets and got a good if informal education later, but there were plenty of times when paragraphs full of technical details and grammatically perfect first-person prose were followed by slangy and folksy language that was jarring. However, my desire to know what happens next overpowered my irritation. The level of intrusion of historical detail on the story was about the same as for The Alienist.
Overall, engrossing and well worth reading.

kathrynmoonchild's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

sarah_piette's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

ggregregregg's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.5

cemoses's review against another edition

2.0

A friend of mine liked this book a lot which is why I read it. Too much of the book is about what happened in the first book.

It is not my kind of book. I don't like real historical people put into fiction especially if it is like in this book where the famous people did not have to be in the story to make it work. The author tried to combine two mystery stories into one. I found it boring.

Not my kind of book.

raraeaves's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

now I understand why budgets wouldn’t have allowed them to adapt this for the second season, but I much, much prefer that book to… whatever the show had going on.

dale_in_va's review against another edition

4.0

I give credit to the author for telling a new story with the familiar characters from a different point of view. This book is just as much a thrill as the Alienist, but introducing even more historical topics of interest and social questions of yesteryear that prompts us to consider if society has made any progress since the turn of the 20th century.