Volume 12 / Issue 2 / November 2000
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Volume 12 / Issue 2 / November 2000 |
Caleb Carr
The Alienist
The Angel of Darkness
Have you ever wondered what it takes to create a serial killer? In The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness, author Caleb Carr will give you a passport into the creation and impulses of a murderer on the rampage. If you think psychological scarring and abusive pasts are a new phenomena for America's most dangerous, think again.
The gloomy, dusty, dark city streets of 19th-century New York are home to Caleb Carr's stories. Psychology is still a developing discipline, and the most gruesome murder cases always seem to end up in the hands of alienist (a.k.a. psychologist) Dr. Lazlo Kreizler. Joined by comrades Stevie Taggert, Cyrus Mont-rose, Sara Howard, John Moore (a newspaper reporter), Marcus and Lucius Isaacson (two police detectives), and President Theodore Roosevelt (in his pre-presidential police commissioner days), Dr. Kreizler attempts to unravel the mysteries of the human psyche to catch a killer.
Through his pursuits, the dark and passionate Dr. Kreizler tries to bring the relevance of psychological profiling and mental pathologies to the attention of New York's justice system. In order to find the killer, he believes, you must understand a criminal's motives.
The Alienist, Carr's first book involving Dr. Kreizler, follows the doctor and his assistants as they endeavor to solve several brutal murders of young male prostitutes. The many victims, the way in which they are disfigured, and the manner in which they are discovered become clues for drawing up a profile of the murderer at large.
Carr wastes no time with the story: the first body is discovered within the first chapters. Kreizler hunts the madman through the cold nights in New York, all the while exploring the dark recesses of conscience and human morality.
The sequel, The Angel of Darkness, begins with the kidnapping of a young baby — the daughter of Spain's resident diplomat — just as the U.S. and Spain stand on the brink of war. As their investigation of the abduction progresses, Dr. Kreizler finds that the kidnapping is not so much a ransom threat as it is the desperate, compulsive act of a homicidal woman.
With each new discovered piece of the woman's suspicious history, it seems the baby comes closer and closer to impending death. As they race for success by utilizing their knowledge of mental pathology, the team of sleuths have to work with the meager resources the times offer them.
Carr's research and knowledge of 1800's New York is impressive and at moments astounding. There is a wealth of information on police investigation protocol and turn-of-the-century culture. Unfortunately, Carr's novels (more so in Angel) demand a bit of patience and acceptance with the lack of enlightenment in the era. In The Alienist, the inventiveness of including Theodore Roosevelt as a close friend of Dr. Kreizler's wears thin about a fourth of the way through the novel.
In the two books, celebrity "appearances" and experiments in composite sketching (while presumably adding to the development of the story or the dynamics of the 19th-century understanding of human psychology) only end up coming off as a cheap way to let the reader know the author has done his history homework.
And while the process of understanding the psychological motivations is very intriguing, this age of Susan Smith, Jeffery Dahmer, and Hannibal Lecter doesn't leave much room for shocking revelation.
Make no mistake, though — Carr's old New York may be more shocking than ever imagined. Serial killers do exist in the age of streetlamps and bustles, and Jack the Ripper was no isolated lunatic. While the traumas that create these murderers may be nothing new to Carr's readers, the scenes of carnage, bloody remains, and dark moonlit chases are hair-raising.
Carr taps into the fear of never knowing what the suspects are capable of and whom they will go after next. The books are great for a creepy, cool fall evening. Aside from a few small references to the first novel, you can even enjoy The Angel of Darkness on its own. The murder cases are puzzles of intellect and human instincts.
The remorseless evil that Dr. Kreizler and his team track will send chills up your spine. Curl up for a night while the leaves are blowing. You may want to read these books with a light on.
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