The Angel of Darkness

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Summary: To the beach!
Review: This summers best beach book. Carr includes all of the things that keep you turning pages. You might have to sacrifice some time with family and friends, because this book will steal you away. The book is like a locomotive gathering speed and and careening toward a gripping conclusion. This is my first experience with Caleb Carr, but it certainly won't be the last. Bring on the Alienist!

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Summary: TOP OF THE LINE !!
Review: Having devoured The Alienist, I was anxious to see if it could hold up as a "sequel". Not only does it rate as a pageturner but it flowed better than the first book. Once you begin The Angel of Darkness you won't want to put it down. It grabs your attention from the first chapter and keeps you going to the end. It was very clever to have Stevie as the narrator while keeping the beloved characters intact. Mr. Carr- we will be hoping for book # 3 !!

Rating:
Summary: Better than The Alienist, but what does that tell you?
Review: Carr has succeeded in writing a sequal more interesting than the original, but then The Alienist wasn't too hard to top. The killer is far more interesting, as is the narration of Stevie Taggert, and the further exploration of turn-of-the-century New York's seedy underbelly (The more things change, the more they stay the same.). Still, I found it to be rather slow going and really had to force myself to stick with it.

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Summary: A disappointment after the achievement of The Alienist.
Review: After Carr's first novel, I hoped for great things from him. However, The Angel of Darkness was a real disappointment. There was not the same evocation of place (turn-of-the-century New York) that helped to make The Alienist so fascinating. Details from the time merely seemd to be leftover facts from the first novel. The narrator was unconvincing and inconsistant--Stevie moved from poor grammar to sophisticated language and I found that extremely grating. The plot was slow moving and the characters were basically the same ones we met in his first novel. I hope Carr is done with this group of characters and moves on to new ground for his next novel; he can do better than this.

Rating:
Summary: maybe i'm greedy; wanted a little more!
Review: i'm not sure what to say. i loved the damn book, but in some shape, form, or fashion, i really wanted more. maybe i missed a more immediate relationship with the doctor (why the damn books are so engrossing). Save stevie's proclivity for the pronoun "what", i truly enjoyed the unfiltered emotion and thought of adolescence through which the story is delivered. only sherlock holmes deals with criminal psyche as deftly as Laszlo Kreizler; Libby Hatch a worthy adversary of any human (save vincent bugliosi). what did i want out of this story? i guess i wanted the alienist again. was i wrong?

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Summary: Carr couldn't be better, best book I have ever read!
Review: From Calen Carr's The Alienist, to this new book The Angel of darkness, He does his very best to bring the reader into a world of surprisingly real characters, from heroes to villains. I highly reccommend this book to all readers.

Rating:
Summary: two notches above average
Review: In comparison to his original work, The Alienist, this is not as mystery filled. Foreshadowing gave way to the idea that this was just a story being told. Yet as a story goes, still gripping at every turn of a page. An excellent job in detail of turn of the century NYC; however, a bit excessive the 1st 100 pages. To compare these two works as supposing to be the same degrees of mystery and description is to do an injustice to Carr. Angel is perfectly narrated from a child's point of view and gives an interesting look at murder in the "real" world through a child's eyes. Overall, an excellent work. I await Carr's next work.

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as the first one
Review: "The Alienist" was a better read; the courtroom sections dragged on too long in this one. Libby Hatch was pretty well-done & even Stevie was OK as a narrator--but needed to be more than just "OK." I think part of the problem was that Carr did not bring 19thCentury New York City alive in this book as he did in the first one. His period details seemed contrived, and he didn't capture the period speech. Jack Finney in "Time after Time" did it much much better. Even better than that is Luc Sante's "Low Life", which--though not a work of fiction--brings the down&dirty side of Old New York vividly to life. Carr should read it to get inspiration for his next book...

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Summary: Caleb Carr does it again!
Review: Murder, suspense, history and a myriad of emotions. These are just a few of the tantalizing tidbits in Caleb Carr's "sequel" to The Alienist. The author, once again, has produced a book that is hard to put down. Especially impressive was the amount of historical research that was done to accurately portray the different areas and people in the Hudson Valley. Good for you, Mr. Carr!

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Summary: You will see this one in the theatre!
Review: Hollywood should make a discovery, Caleb Carr. This author grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go! Each paragraph is an invitation to the next. His characters are each developed individually, indepth and intelligently. The story unfolds each character's charms and flaws. This book is not a "Who Done It" it is a "Why Would Someone Do It". Although a lengthly book it reads like a "Cliff Note". I highly recommend this book.