Reviewed summary
The Alienist
Ever wonder how the cops caught serial killers before CSI and Netflix crime dramas? Spoiler: It wasn’t pretty, fast, or even all that scientific. Caleb Carr’s The Alienist drags you back to 1896 New York, where a psychologist and a ragtag team try to outthink a brutal child murderer using brains, guts, and some barely-invented forensic tricks. It’s like Sherlock Holmes meets Freud, with a dash of gritty history and a side of social messiness.
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