I have read this book a few years back as a library book, and I couldn't avoid buying a copy for my personal collection. It is a great read, especially if you are fond of the end of the 19th century and of mystery stories, and if you have read "The Alienist" before, you know why you have to read this one too :)

The publisher writes about this book:

It is June 1897. A year has passed since Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a pioneer in forensic psychiatry, tracked down the brutal serial killer John Beecham with the help of a team of trusted companions and a revolutionary application of the principles of his discipline. Kreizler and his friends - high-living crime reporter John Schuyler Moore; indomitable, derringer-toting Sara Howard; the brilliant (and bickering) detective brothers Marcus and Lucius Isaacson; powerful and compassionate Cyrus Montrose; and Stevie Taggert, the boy Kreizler saved from a life of street crime - have returned to their former pursuits and tried to forget the horror of the Beecham case. But when the distraught wife of a Spanish diplomat begs Sara's aid, the team reunites to help find her kidnapped infant daughter. It is a case fraught with danger, since Spain and the United States are on the verge of war. Their investigation leads the team to a shocking suspect: a woman who appears to the world to be a heroic nurse and a loving mother, but who may in reality be a ruthless murderer of children.

An interesting interview with Caleb Carr can be found here.

As a few have expressed interest in reading this, I am offering it as a bookring for the members of BCUK only, but just because it's a heavy book (Jumbo format, 600+ pages, 810 g!).

The book is ready to depart...here the list of readers, thank you :)

GlasgowGal
csvariation
Mastulela
coolboxuk
and back to me, cheers!

Update on 16.02.2005
My apologies for the huge delay... the book is now definitely ready to travel to Glasgow. I wish I could accompany it!

Received today. Thank you YowlYY
:-)

What I have managed to read of this book I have enjoyed. Unfortunately, the main time I get to read is when commuting on flights, and this book is just too big to carry around in my handbag.

Therefore, it's with regret I am passing this book on, so as to not hold up the ring any longer. I will get another copy of this book and read it very soon, though.

Thanks, YowlYY and apologies.
:-)

Thanks for this - will read and review soon :0)

Arrived today in a huge packet. I have managed to get a copy of The Alienist in the interim, and enjoyed it, so I have great hopes for this one. I must admit that I had never heard of a psychiatrist/psychologist being known as an Alienist until I 'met' this author.

Caleb Carr has a great sense of period and place. Stevie Taggert, from the New York underworld, is the narrator and the language echoes his background. I found the use of what instead of that irritating at first, but soon became 'acclimatised'. I now need to go back to The Alienist which was narrated by John Moore to get a feeling of his language.

A great read which kept me involved throughout, in spite of its length. Thank you YowlYY

Postal release to coolboxuk today.

Received today - thanks a lot!!!

Finally got down to reading this book and really really enjoyed it!!! Although long for a murder mystery, it was fast paced and captivating all the way through. I liked the odd group of inviduals playing at sleuth - all the more unlikely in the setting of time and place which gave the book an intriguing note from the outset. Narrated by the youngest and least educated of its members, the language - which felt equally odd - added to the feel of the whole story and setting.

Thanks to coolboxuk, a few new BCers have shown interest to participating to this ring. The book will go then next to

Rillaith
Mytilus
angellica

and back to me in Nottingham, thanks! Happy reading everyone :)

Arrived several days ago, but can't access BC from home. I've got 4 ring books all arrived at the same time, though, so it will be a few days before I can start this one. I'd completely forgotten about it, so it was a pleasant surprise!

Just a quick update as I've had it most of this month - I will be starting it at lunchtime (so, in about 10 minutes, then...) and it should be off on its travels again in in a few days. (If it's as big as it looks, that might be more than a few!)

I did really like the book, in the end. It took me a *very* long time to get into it, and I meant 100-150 pages. It went very slowly, partly because it's such a big book, but also because I found the colloquial language (well, grammar really) of the Narrator very jarring until either I got used to it or the author stopped putting so many in.

I would advise anyone reading this to persist if they struggle to get started, but mostly I'd strongly recommend that you set aside an hour or two uninterrupted, when you're not tired or surrounded bydistractive noises, to start reading. Once you get into it, it's brilliant - just that first hurdle was quite a large one for me.

Thank you, nonetheless, for letting me read this YowlYY, and for being patient while I got through it!

Off to angellica shortly, as I already have an address. Oops, That will be Mytillus, not Angellica. No wonder I had problems reading the book if I can't read a short list!

Just to let you know .... this is, um, well ... in my house. Somewhere. I was keeping track of it *right* up until the last van load, and now I'm not sure exactly where it has ended up, owing to having 4 people kindly aiding me with the packing and the loading of boxes. This is rather embarassing, as it was sat by my door in a jiffy bag waiting for me to know I'd be able to get to the post office ... Should have brought it into work regardless!

Anyway, it will be unearthed fairly soon, and then I will be able to finally send it on its way. So sorry about holding this up!

This arrived today, just in time to be started as a Halloween read - how appropriate!

About to read this looks rather interesting