Woah, talk about a title.
The Devil in the White City, is a book about two men. The first, Daniel Burnham, the architect behind the building The World's Fair in Chicago. The second, and the reason I picked this little gem up, was H.H. Holmes, America's first serial killer.
The book is non-fiction, but it reads like a novel.
I really enjoyed this book. It is set up a little differently, but for the topics, I felt that it was a good outline. Pretty much every other chapter is about one of the two men. It flips back and forth between the different story lines, but every once in awhile the stories cross paths. For example, in one of the architect's sections, there are references to H.H. Holme's "World's Fair Hotel." The flipping can get tiresome, but in some respects it gives a nice change of pace right when it's necessary. I wil be honest however, there were some architecture sections I skipped becuase the murder sections were just too interesting.
Over all I would give this book an 6/10.
It was a great read, and well paced. The language wasn't too elevated, but it was at a competent level.
Every once in a while, the author would throw in a dash of humor, and I for one appreciate that. I really felt like the author and editors did a really great job of crafting each sentence. There were sections that felt a little repetative, almost as if the author had written two paragraphs about the same thing and stuck them in separate sections. I found that frustrating, but it wasn't a problem more than once or twice.
I liked the arcitecture sections, becuase I felt like the people in the section were personable. I really don't know much about architecture, but I do feel like I understand the challenges of building things in the 1800s a little better.
Also, I learned a LOT about the World's Fair in Chicago. Did you know that Shredded Wheat and Cracker Jacks were brought to this fair? I didn't. I also learned about the Ferris Wheel and how it's creator's wife was on the first turn. Pretty cool stuff.
SO back to the reason I picked up this book.
H.H. Holmes, or Henry Mudgett (I'd take an alias too with a name like Mudgett)
Holmes sparked my interest while I was in school working on a YA horror novel. I started doing research on serial killers in history and stumbled across a documentary about him.
He was a creepy dude, but no one figured it. He is now classified as a psycopath, but back in his day people didn't know what that was.
I won't give too much away about his story, but I will tell you this.
I was impressed with the way the author talked about his crimes, without getting super graphic or disturbing. I mean, he was a disturbed young man, but I didn't feel like I had witnessed first hand the crimes, In some cases Larson described some of the bodies found, but he did so with tact, I felt.
Most of the time, since not all the disappearances have been proved to have anything to do with Holmes, Larson just kind of alluded to them.
"Holmes never seemed to mind when the women who worked for him took off, leaving all their belongings in their rooms, and not bothering to call for them." (from a neighbor of Holmes)
I was surprised that the book filled as many as it did, but as I conintued to read, and in the end finished it, I couldn't imagine it taking any less.
I don't know if I would read it again, just based on it's subject. I would read more by this author, however. He is great.
So there you have it.
Read on.
H.
