Wednesday, June 30, 2010

SERIOUSLY?!

What is wrong with me?!  I've just been through my genres (i.e. "labels") and realized that I have only ever once mentioned the Alienist and its sequel, the Angel of Darkness.  I must be mad.  They are by Caleb Carr, the wonderful author who brought Holmes and Watson back to life so well in the Italian Secretary.  Both the Alienist and Angel, or the "Kreizler books" as I'll probably start calling them from now on, pre-date the Secretary and are by far superior.

The two books, if you have not read them, center on the adventures of Dr. Lazlo Kreizler and his friends and colleagues as they solve turn-of-the-century New York's most baffling serial crimes.  I shan't give away too much, because you must read them.  They are fast-paced, highly entertaining, and very thought-provoking.  I've read both repeatedly -- as in more than four time a piece -- and never tire of them.  Once I pick up the Alienist, and I cannot put it down until I have finished it.  READ IT!  You must!