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Summary: carr does it again but in a different style
Review: reading the reviews that were made before me i realized how passionate people get about books. thats what makes literature so involving. i felt captivated by this book and found myself flowing through the book quickly, considering the length (600+ pages). i thought this book would be written in the same style as the previous novel, the alienist, angel of darkness caught me off guard with it's slower courtroom drama. the plot takes longer to develop than the alienist but don't let that deter you from picking this book up, because once it starts, it really get's moving.
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Summary: Worth a read but not as good as "The Alienist"
Review: I liked this title. Carr gets you scared and keeps you hooked. I personally love the laborious detail he infuses his work with. I'm no historian but it certainly makes for an entertaining read. My problem with the book is not that Carr has chosen Stevie Taggart as the book's narrator or that he sounds like the Artful Dodger Jr. but that the narrative is unconvincing. One minute Stevie sounds like an urchin and the next he's using words no street kid could possibly know. It is distracting to say the least. That said, my reading speed is average and I finished this in record time. I didn't realize it was 700 pages until I saw people bashing it in their reviews here on Amazon.
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Summary: This book is for readers not content with the ordinary.....
Review: Do you wish you had lived during a previous era in history? Do you daydream about what life must have been like during a particularly exciting time in history? Well, this book is for you. Mr. Carr puts you at the scene of turn-of-the-century New York by writing in a speaking style that may have been similar to the style used by inhabitants of that era. To enjoy these books, the reader must be willing to be creative, not give up at the first reading, and most of all, be willing to daydream. I am sorry that his other books are not similar to these two: Alienist and Angel of Death.
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Summary: Good, but The Alienist was better
Review: The Angel of Darkness does not have the freshness and the pace of The Alienist, but it is still interesting for it's historical perspective on New York City. It was also interesting to read about the other characters in the story from Stevie Taggert's point of view. Unfortunately, it seemed difficult for Caleb Carr to appropriate Stevie's voice with much authenticity. A good editor would have struck out some of the more "90's" figures of speech. Also, TAOD is not as fast-paced or tightly written as The Alienist. I look forward, however, to seeing another book featuring the same characters, perhaps with a little more depth to their delineation -- the author could really go to town in developing Kriezler a bit more and perhaps removing some of the more broader aspects of his theatrical personality. And please, make the next book a little more tightly written and "meaty", like the Alienist. Believe it or not, I do like the gross parts, so long as they are kept within the "context" of the book. Mr. Carr could have gone a bit further in developing the Libby Hatch character -- it seemed as though there were things about her that were still unexplained. Not everyone who was deprived of privacy in their formative years turns into a baby killer -- there must have been more to her than that. I would still recommend this book -- it was good, but it didn't have the flow or the suspense of the Alienist. I hope to see more books from Mr. Carr of that quality.
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Summary: Carr takes us back to the 19th century, with feeling.
Review: THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS, the sequel to 1994's astounding THE ALIENIST, is one of those rare books that editors only fool themselves into thinking that they've acquired on signing an author- It is a sequel that had to be written and stands alone as a classic unto itself. Mr. Carr, a professional historian of some note, has catapulted us back to the New York of the late 19th century. We are once again back at Delmonico's and chasing a new serial killer with Dr. Kreizler, the Isaccson brothers, Sara Howard, John Moore, Cyrus, and Stevie Taggart, who tells this story right after John Moore's account in THE ALIENIST. Libby Hatch, a former nurse, has snatched the baby girl of a Spanish diplomatic couple at exactly the same time that the US is about to declare war on Spain. What appears to be an already sensitive international kidnapping case for Ms. Howard, now a private eye, turns into something more than the motley crew of investigators ever bargained for: The seductive Libby Hatch, they find as they dig into her past, is a serial killer of no mean abilities. The victimization of children is once again at the heart of Mr. Carr's narrative, but it raises an issue as viable today as it was in 1897- Can women autonomously commit murder with the same psychological protocols as male serial killers and should we treat them differently? This question, coming on the heels of the Karla Faye Tucker execution, is at the crux of this very powerful and well-written novel and will leave you plucking your chin after you've finished the last page.
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Summary: Most Over rated Author of the Year
Review: This is a real case of the emperor's new clothes. Caleb Carr got a good reputation for "The Alienist," even though it was tedious and derivative and anachronistic. "Angel" is even worse-- so much so that, only 200 pages into its monumental 700+ page bulk, I got tired of waiting for the plot to start and dropped it. People who like these books probably haven't read this sort of thing done well: Jack Finney's "Time and Again" (NOT the sequel, "From Time to Time") comes to mind, as do several of Peter Lovesy's Sgt. Cribb mysteries. But Carr is a dull and pretentious author, and I say he's naked and to hell with him.
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Summary: I didn't like The Alienist either
Review: I guess I'm a victim of my own addiction to reading. I didn't like the Alienist and this is far worse _ 747 pages in paperback. OK, give Carr a star for knowing about turn of the century New York (although who knows if that's accurate _ i wasn't there.) But the characters are cardboard (1990s politically correct as one of your reviewers noted). Good African-Americans, feminists, street urchins and horses, plus a drunken newspaperman with a heart of gold and a screwy shrink. Fine, but they're cardboard cutouts with little depth. Carr even adheres (in both books) to the myth of Teddy Roosevelt, not the reality. (If they had TV spots for politicians in his day, Carr could have gotten a job writing them. But I'm getting almost as long as Carr. There are a lot better in the mystery genre _ from Alan Furst to James Ellroy and Katherine Kijewski. Try them and leave Carr in 1897.
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Summary: give the oscar to carr
Review: 'the angel of darkness' is the second best book i've ever devoured by caleb carr, 'the alienist' being the first. i say devoured because it took me less than a week to read each of them. carr is refered to as an author of historical fiction, i agree and he does it well. it is the vivid detail and descriptions of all he is writing about. i've read some of the reviews and everybody is complaining about stevie and his language. i think carr writes in character-he's developed them all. caleb, the next one has to be from cyrus - so many directions in the 1800's to take that. miss howard would be my second choice.. whoever 'writes' it, i'll be waiting for another enjoyable week.. ,.
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Summary: Reflections on humanity
Review: Ok - I read The Alienest - loved it. Read Angel of Darkness - loved it - but in a different way. The originallity of Carr's work is that while the same set of characters are maintained from story to story (and allegedly will for more to come) - the naration and pace are not. Those who pick up this book assumming that it will be a carbon copy of The Alienist may as well not read it - this story could not be told by anyone other than Stevie Taggert with his poor speech and street ways, because that is core to the story. Using words like "what" and "joint" were indicitive of the time, as were figures like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Corneilus Vanderbilt. Carr's brilliance is in outlining a story - and being able to tell it from the point of view of a 14 year old street urchin in one book, and a thirty plus aristocratic drunk in another. The lure of this book is the psychology, the history, and the accuracy (follow Carr's directions around Manhattan - you'll never make a wrong turn. My two cents - Kudos to Carr for outshining his father's long shadow - and for giving us true literture.
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Summary: A fascinating and engrossing look into darkness.
Review: THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS, by CALEB CARR, is a free flowing sequel to THE ALIENIST, and one that starts up smashingly! Almost as if I never put the first book down, TAOD picks right up with the team of investigators, and keeps their characters consistent. Small things like substituting "what" for "that" in an attempt to show an old jargon was not nearly enough to make the book any less enjoyable. A great book that only suffers if you have read THE ALIENIST - simply because the enthralling detail, the discovery of who the killer is, and the realistic characters have already been introduced to the reader...and nothing's as good as the first time.
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