Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson

31 reviews

siu_rose's review

challenging dark medium-paced

5.0

I thought this was extremely well written and vivid.  The author wove together strands of different stories quite well.  The scale encompasses details and the big picture.  I definitely plan to read more of his books. 

The creepy factor of the serial killer meant that I read this slowly because sometimes I just didn’t want to read it. But it was a good read overall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, and Child death

bring_me_a_book's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Death, Child death, Deadnaming, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicide, and Torture

pagesfromhome's review

dark informative slow-paced

2.75

This was my first dive into Erik Larson's writing, and while I loved his style (lots of details that really put you in a moment), I think this fell a little bit flat for me. It felt like he just wanted to write a book about the World's Fair, but decided to throw in the story of H.H. Holmes to make it a bit more interesting. From what the book tells, there's essentially no connection between Holmes and the Fair, so pushing them into a book together doesn't make sense.

That said, I loved the sections about the fair and genuinely wish that had been the entirety of the book rather than being pulled between the two different stories. Even though there are times when Larson dives into characters with no real conclusion on them until the last part of the book, he does such a vivid job of building them that you kind of forgive it. All in all, not a waste of a read, but I doubt I'll be reading it again or thinking too much about it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Kidnapping

dobermaier's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Racism, and Child death

Minor: Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

psdarlin's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Child death, Mental illness, Colonisation, Death, Racial slurs, and Kidnapping

Minor: Racism, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Medical content, Chronic illness, and Homophobia

annabunce's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

3.0

Meh. I probably should have just read the wikipedia article about H.H. Holmes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Gore, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Stalking, Murder, Child death, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Blood, and Drug abuse

eliya's review against another edition

dark funny informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

this took me f o r e v e r to read 
i started on sept 7th and MAN did it slow me down. took me 11h 46m to read and i was not very motivated to read it, but once you get in the groove it reads like gossip. 

some people don’t recommend doing the audiobook and reading at the same time but i honestly do recommend it. there are some differences in the wording, some paragraphs added or taken out here and there, but it felt like i got the full recounting. 

the author is very clever in the way he kind of leaves little foreshadowing clues - toward the end i think i was a little over the “that was… until” type of wording from him though. omnipresent in the most educated way lol. felt very much like i was living it // a work of fiction rather than an amalgamation of random facts here and there. 

really enjoyed learning about the chicago fair, crazy how many things were just accepted because of the time. i would not have like to be apart of that time lol. 

i made so many notes reading this lol there were so many fun facts that felt so important i’m glad - really glad - i read this but MAN i’m also glad it’s over 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Violence, and Classism

Moderate: Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual content and Terminal illness

stacylaughs's review

dark informative inspiring tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Torture

Moderate: Violence, Confinement, Child death, and Kidnapping

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic and Alcoholism

rachelsheplak's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Gore, Child death, Blood, Abortion, Body horror, Gun violence, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Violence

alagasianflame's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

As one who was more interested in H. H. Holmes than architecture history, let me say the high rating is largely due to the fact that Larson manages to make committees and ledgers equally as fascinating as a man who built his own murder castle without anyone noticing. This is accomplished by the extensive backgrounds Larson lays out for practically every major player involved in the designing and building of the Fair. At the beginning, these winding expositions seem extraneous and, at times I’ll admit, perhaps even a little dull, but they serve as a foundation upon which is built the later trials and tribulations of the Fair’s designers, much of which was apparently caused by interpersonal strife and not, necessarily, pure financial or physical deterrents. By turning flat facts into tragic or triumphant events in the personal lives of the men (and occasional woman) involved, they come alive and make this tale something more engaging than a dusty history text book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death

Moderate: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Racism, Child death, Death, Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness