The Alienist » (Abridged)

A military historian with a ripe imagination, Caleb Carr is best known for his murder mysteries set in late-19th-century New York. More recently, he has turned his attention to an imagined future and an all-too-real present, but he can always be relied upon for thought-provoking writing that richly evokes its own period and politics.

A new breed of evil in Old New York

New York, 1986: Lower Manhattan's underworld is ruled by a new generation of cold-blooded criminals...Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt battles widespread corruption within the department's ranks...and a shockingly brutal murder sets off an investigation that could change crime-fighting forever.

In the middle of a wintry March night, New York Times reporter John Moore is summoned to the East River by his friend Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a brilliant pioneer in the new and much-maligned discipline of psychology, the emerging study of society's "alienated" mentally ill. There they view the horribly mutilated body of a young boy, a prostitute from one of Manhattan's infamous brothels. Supervised by Commissioner Roosevelt, the newsman and his "alienist" mentor embark on a revolutionary attempt to identify the killer by assembling his psychological profile -- a dangerous quest that takes them into the...

Publishers Weekly

Set in 1896, Carr's novel about a serial killer lose in New York City was a 25-week PW bestseller. (July)