You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
9.33k reviews for:
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
Erik Larson
3.87 AVERAGE
9.33k reviews for:
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
Erik Larson
3.87 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
From what ive read it seems this is a pretty inflated account but whatever I can’t say it wasn’t interesting. I wish it had either focused on the fair from an architects perspective and cut the Holmes angle or from entirely an audience’s perspective and focused more on the women Holmes killed? Trying to do both was excessively convoluted and I cannot keep that many white man names straight . It also failed to eloquently connect the two streams beyond the obvious through line that Holmes crimes were encouraged by the energy the fair brought to the city. The first half was super interesting and detailed though- I mostly enjoyed reading about the construction of the fair and honestly it did not make me give a shit about Holmes. Seriously wish it had invested even an ounce of empathy for his victims
I'm definitely going to be revisiting this book. Entertaining, informative, and especially interesting for an Illinois native. Anybody who's spent any time in Chicago, and especially the Chicago museums, should give this a read.
adventurous
dark
informative
slow-paced
This was a wild tale. I had to remind myself it was nonfiction constantly while I was reading it. I think this is a shining example of truth being stranger than fiction.
adventurous
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
A really interesting book, but I found parts of it very dull. I think I would have liked a book just about the World’s Fair and another book just about Henry H. Holmes. I’m so glad I read this though.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book - a murder mystery with a historical backgroud.
It was good but honestly I was more interested in the story about the murderer than the fair and there wasn’t as much of that in the book.
slow-paced
This could’ve been so much shorter if the author didn’t do things like spend ten pages talking about how a bank wanted to take control of the fair but failed. Also it’s BONKERS that an insurance company caught Holmes and not the police. Like they’ve been useless for 100 years?