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carstensena's review
4.0
The audiobook is very good. Not sure I would have made it to the end if I'd been reading it in print, and frankly the ending is somewhat anti-climactic. Still, I loved the setting, the characters were intriguing, and the guy has a pet cheetah. What more can one ask?
grierkelsey's review
1.0
#52bookclub prompt #7: City or Country name
I would not recommend this book to anyone other than a 40+ year old man with a fetish for 20 year old girls, guns, cheetahs, and WWII jets. It reads very much like a self insert from the absolute lack of personality of the main character who is always right and being told how brilliant he is. The mystery aspect is bland, the “how and why” being discovered within the first 100 pages of this 600+ page book. The “who” is revealed within the last 100 pages, so what new information to we glean in between those pages? Nothing since we already know the how and why, until a weird insta love situation happens with a very young, impoverished and abused woman who is still somehow coy and mischievous and all knowing despite traumatic events happening to her within the last couple of years. I don’t want to waste any more time talking about that character other than that it was literally making me gag throughout the rest of the novel. She was probably the most egregious from the myriad of stereotyped, bland characters. The dialogue is strange and bland, the narration baked with dense sentences waxing poetic over social reform for multiple pages (I.e. police, forensic, internet, video games, surveillance cameras, etc). It was extra upsetting because I really enjoyed the other two novels of this author that I’ve read, and this book was so bad and so gross it soured the experience I had reading the other books.
I would not recommend this book to anyone other than a 40+ year old man with a fetish for 20 year old girls, guns, cheetahs, and WWII jets. It reads very much like a self insert from the absolute lack of personality of the main character who is always right and being told how brilliant he is. The mystery aspect is bland, the “how and why” being discovered within the first 100 pages of this 600+ page book. The “who” is revealed within the last 100 pages, so what new information to we glean in between those pages? Nothing since we already know the how and why, until a weird insta love situation happens with a very young, impoverished and abused woman who is still somehow coy and mischievous and all knowing despite traumatic events happening to her within the last couple of years. I don’t want to waste any more time talking about that character other than that it was literally making me gag throughout the rest of the novel. She was probably the most egregious from the myriad of stereotyped, bland characters. The dialogue is strange and bland, the narration baked with dense sentences waxing poetic over social reform for multiple pages (I.e. police, forensic, internet, video games, surveillance cameras, etc). It was extra upsetting because I really enjoyed the other two novels of this author that I’ve read, and this book was so bad and so gross it soured the experience I had reading the other books.
fishwitch's review against another edition
4.0
Wonderful characters and story telling. I hope that there will be more tales of these folks!
elisabeth1st's review against another edition
2.0
As a huge fan of The Alienist I truly wanted to loved this novel. I did not. The pompous tone of the main character really set me on edge right from the start. The introduction of Dr. Mike Li and later, Lucas, offered some levity. The other thing that bothered me throughout was the language. Inter-mixed with the lofty, overdone vocabulary were excessive F-bombs that simply didn't suit the people, particularly Trajan. I am not opposed to the use of F*** but I really don't think a highly educated professor drops it as liberally as LT did. I won't even discuss the cheetah. Previous comments cover that topic! Mr. Carr, go back to 1800s, please!
vilandra's review against another edition
2.0
This was not a novel - it was an excuse for the author to spew his personal vitriol against law enforcement, Giuliani, Bloomberg, Cuomo, modern New York City, television… It’s the 600-page equivalent of an 80 year old man saying, “In my day…” It’s not even that these were woven into the story: the reader is beat over the head with how great NYC was back in the crime-ridden 70s and 80s. If these aren’t the author’s personal beliefs, then it certainly feels that way and completely takes the reader out of the story. After 125 pages, I really wanted to stop reading. Marcianna is the only character I cared anything about, and the dialogue sounds like it came from a bad comic book. Oh, the stereotypes! Also the characters use British terms for things that Americans just do not use. Then there’s the creepy older man with 20 year old girl romance. Not to mention that the premise of the book just doesn’t make sense. The hypocrisy of a book that talks about the Thought Police while spewing inaccurate Thought Police talking points…that talks about inaccuracy in tv while doing the very same…I expected better from this author. He’s been around Hollywood too long, ironically. If you liked The Alienist, do not read this book - it will change your opinion of this author. I wish I could take back reading this. I will not even donate this book to the library because I don’t want anyone else to have to read it.
ripples_and_embers's review against another edition
4.0
I love Caleb Carr! I always recommend his books to my forensic science class!
nrsolis87's review against another edition
1.0
I’m fairly certain this is the worst book I’ve ever read. I know I’m in the minority, but I really disliked The Alienist by this author, too. In my opinion both of these books were overwritten and arduous. The only reason I forced myself to finish reading this book is because I couldn’t find a single spoiler regarding how it ended and although I hated reading it, I needed to know how it concluded, so I could further hate on this book. Petty Betty is me. I am her. Here are the reasons I hated this book and I’m going to include spoilers for anyone else who just can’t get through this dumpster fire and needs to know how it ends.
1. It’s too long and rambles. Didn’t need 600 pages to get to the freaking point.
2. It’s horribly overwritten with dialogue that adds nothing to the story and is so pretentious it will make your eyes roll.
3. The characters are so cartoonish and their conversations are so cringe that it reminded me of bad day time TV.
4. The amount of times he mentions how you CAN’T TRUST FORENSIC SCIENCE is just absurd. We get it, you hate crime shows and are the best Sherlock Holmes of the new age
1. It’s too long and rambles. Didn’t need 600 pages to get to the freaking point.
2. It’s horribly overwritten with dialogue that adds nothing to the story and is so pretentious it will make your eyes roll.
3. The characters are so cartoonish and their conversations are so cringe that it reminded me of bad day time TV.
4. The amount of times he mentions how you CAN’T TRUST FORENSIC SCIENCE is just absurd. We get it, you hate crime shows and are the best Sherlock Holmes of the new age
mactammonty's review against another edition
2.0
This is an updated character from his first two books. It takes place in modern times but with a similar cast of side kicks. The MC comes across as full of himself at times, turning the book into a long lecture. He also repeats himself throughout the book.
If these long rants were removed the book would have been much better.
If these long rants were removed the book would have been much better.