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From Library Journal
Dr. Lazlo Kreizler, protagonist of The Alienist (LJ 3/1/94), is back with his idiosyncratic companions in Carr's latest mystery thriller. Set in 1897 New York and told through the voice of the doctor's young ward, Stevie (a former "delinquent" nicknamed "Stevepipe," after his weapon of choice), the story centers on the kidnapping of the baby daughter of a Spanish diplomat just as tensions between Spain and the United States have reached the boiling point. Soon our investigators discover something even more sinister: Their chief suspect seems to have been involved in the murders of several other young children?including two of her own?and to be willing to take any measures necessary to cover her tracks. It becomes a race against time to save this latest victim. The exciting tale is full of the requisite twists and turns and involves such historical figures as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Clarence Darrow, and Teddy Roosevelt. It also makes the point that when it comes to questions of good and evil and the motivations behind seemingly horrific behavior (a la Susan Smith), there are no simple answers. Highly recommended for all public libraries and any others where good mystery writing is in demand.-?David W. Henderson, Eckerd Coll. Lib., St. Petersburg, Fla.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Entertainment Weekly, Mark Harris
A very good sequel to a superb novel.... Part mystery, part psychological case study, and part grimly revisionist urban history.... Carr's unblinking, scrupulously detailed vision of the darkest corners of a growing metropolis is as vivid and enthralling as it was in The Alienist.Let's hope he's saved enough material for at least one more book.


The New York Times Book Review, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
Sequels usually don't work, but in The Angel of Darkness, Caleb Carr has written at least as winning a historical thriller as his bestseller The Alienist..... Once again, he has created a turn-of-the-century New York City that feels as authentic as a fading tintype.


Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review, Celia McGee
Although working one's way through Carr's hefty book is like reading history, he manages to make historical figures appear to spring full-blown (and full of odd humanity) from his imagination. In truth, real people, especially of the world-changing variety (why, just look at the Spencer family), usually turn out to be even more interesting than made-up ones. And Carr's invented characters have, with few exceptions, both the surface and the internal cast of reality.


From AudioFile
This sequel to Carr's bestselling Alienist harkens back to earlier times in more ways than one. Most obviously, it contains fascinating minutiae about its setting, late nineteenth-century New York. But it also reminds one of a kind of pulp and penny dreadful fiction in which a club of eccentric and talented heroes fights crime under a charismatic leader, such as Doc Savage. In radio, this genre reached its apotheosis with the long-running series "I Love a Mystery." In this novel, the leader is Laszlo Kreizler, one of the world's first "profilers," or forensic psychiatrists--"alienists" in the parlance of the day. This particular case is told by Stevie Taggert, the street-urchin protŽgŽ of the good doctor. Boyd Gaines plays him well, negotiating as best he can around the author's anachronisms and inconsistencies of diction. Further, Gaines's listener-friendly voice emphasizes Carr's strengths--atmosphere and plotting. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Kirkus Reviews
An absorbing if overlong sequel to Carr's popular 1994 thriller, The Alienist. As in that novel, the figures of ``alienist'' (i.e., psychologist) Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, investigative journalist John Schuyler Moore, and Kreizler's assistant Stevie ``Stevepipe'' Taggert (who tells the story) figure prominently in the investigation of a peculiarly dastardly crime. The year is 1897, and Carr's plot is initiated by the kidnapping of a Spanish diplomat's baby--then thickens, quite pleasurably, as suspicion falls on Elspeth Hunter, a malevolent nurse who is actually Libby Hatch, a malevolent gang moll and the suspected murderess of her own children. The pursuit, capture, and attempted conviction of Libby involve such notable historical figures as painter Albert Pinkham Ryder, women's-rights crusader Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Libby's defense attorney Clarence Darrow (who dominates a fascinating extended courtroom scene), and (back also from The Alienist) New York City Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt, who commandeers the US Navy to aid in the story's climactic pursuit. Carr overloads his tale with digressive comments on ever-worsening political relations between the US and Cuba (though one can argue such passages' relevance to the novel's initial mystery), and disastrously slows down the otherwise absorbing courtroom scenes by including needless detailed summaries of cases of child murder offered as precedents. But these are minor blemishes. Carr has learned to plot since The Alienist, and this novel usually moves at a satisfyingly rapid pace. The ambiance is convincingly thick and period-flavorful, the murderous details satisfyingly gruesome, and even the somewhat shaky central ethical question--whether ``a woman's murdering her own kids . . . could actually be looked at as her trying to gain control over her life and her world''--is quite convincingly presented. As for the nefarious Libby--presented, with perfect appropriateness, only as others see and hear her--she rivals Lydia Gwilt of Wilkie Collins's Armadale as the pluperfect villainess, and the centerpiece of an enormously entertaining and satisfying reading experience. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
In one of the most critically acclaimed novels of the year, Caleb Carr-- bestselling author of The Alienist--pits Dr. Laszlo Kreizler and his colleagues against a murderer as evil as the darkest night. . . .


From the Publisher
From the bestselling author of THE ALIENIST, this is his second tale of murderous deeds in 19th century New York. The book is a taut drama packed with memorable characters. I live in old downtown New York (and love history as well as mysteries) and I especially enjoy how well Caleb Carr has recreated the look and feel of (the optimism and depravity, the glory and darkness) of old New York and its multifarious nefarious denizens. If you like the life and times of Theodore Roosevelt, Jack Finney's TIME AND AGAIN or the film THE NAKED CITY (even though it is a different time period) you'll get totally caught up in ANGEL OF DARKNESS.
Teri Henry, Director of Subsidiary Rights


From the Publisher
A must read if you are a fan of American history or just enjoy a good yarn. Carr created something special with ALIENIST and he continues many of the same characters in this novel. He's at his best when he stays in the New York setting. A best seller in both hardcover and paperback, and well deserving of both.--Ron Lundquist, Ballantine Sales Rep.


From the Publisher
I was so excited when I heard that we would be publishing Caleb Carr's follow-up to his first book, THE ALIENIST. ANGEL OF DARKNESS starrs the same characters whom I loved in THE ALIENIST: Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, Cyrus, Stevie, Lucius and Marcus, Miss Howard, and Mr. Moore. And like THE ALIENIST, ANGEL OF DARKNESS describes New York circa the late 19th century.It's a real thrill to read this book and imagine where all of the action is taking place. After reading both of Carr's works, I've taken his books with me and walked through the different New York neighborhoods that he so wonderfully illustrates. It's really fun to look at the neighborhoods as they stand today and to picture how they were back then. It's also interesting to note how neighborhoods have changed demographically. -- Jennifer RichardsPublicity


From the Inside Flap
In one of the most critically acclaimed novels of the year, Caleb Carr-- bestselling author of The Alienist--pits Dr. Laszlo Kreizler and his colleagues against a murderer as evil as the darkest night. . . .


From the Back Cover
"As winning a historical thriller as The Alienist. . . . The reader keeps right on turning the pages."
--The New York Times

"A RIPPING YARN TOLD WITH VERVE, INTENSITY, AND A FEEL FOR HISTORICAL DETAIL . . . Once again we are careening around the gaslighted New York that Carr knows, and depicts, so well."
--The New York Times Book Review

"GRIPPING . . . Carr is at his strongest, exploring the dark underside of the human psyche and ferreting out the terrors and tragedies that drive men--and women--to kill. . . . In Libby Hatch, Carr has created a villain whose cunning is nearly equal to his detectives' crime-solving prowess. . . . The mystery is plotted with military precision."
--USA Today

"[A] WHOPPING THRILLER . . . Carr keeps us racing along with him to the very end."
--The Washington Post Book World


About the Author
Caleb Carr was born in Manhattan and grew up on the Lower East Side, where he still lives. He attended Kenyon College and New York University, earning a degree in history. In addition to fiction, Mr. Carr writes frequently on military and political affairs and is a contributing editor of MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History. His previous books include The Alienist and The Devil Soldier. He has also worked in television, film, and the theater.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

It is June 1897. A year has passed since Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a pioneer in forensic psychiatry, tracked down the brutal serial killer John Beecham with the help of a team of trusted companions and a revolutionary application of the principles of his discipline. Kreizler and his friends - high-living crime reporter John Schuyler Moore; indomitable, derringer-toting Sara Howard; the brilliant (and bickering) detective brothers Marcus and Lucius Isaacson; powerful and compassionate Cyrus Montrose; and Stevie Taggert, the boy Kreizler saved from a life of street crime - have returned to their former pursuits and tried to forget the horror of the Beecham case. But when the distraught wife of a Spanish diplomat begs Sara's aid, the team reunites to help find her kidnapped infant daughter. It is a case fraught with danger, since Spain and the United States are on the verge of war. Their investigation leads the team to a shocking suspect: a woman who appears to the world to be a heroic nurse and a loving mother, but who may in reality be a ruthless murderer of children.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The multitudes who enjoyed The Alienist are in for a surprise when they open this comfortable sequel to that mega-seller. Gone is the crisp, educated narration of New York Times reporter James Moore, replaced by the hotter, more ragged tones of former street urchin Stevie, a relatively minor figure in the first novel. That's a bold move on Carr's part. Conan Doyle never replaced Watson, but not too bold, as it cuts staleness. Otherwise, the novel retreads its predecessor's prowl through Olde New York and resurrects its catchy crime-busting crew of alienist Laszlo Kreizler and his carefully typecast assistants, as well as a flurry of historical figures (Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Teddy Roosevelt, et al.) whose appearances again blend into the action like stones into cake batter. Why tinker with success? Carr doesn't really, though for variety's sake he takes Kreizler and company upstate for a spell as they gather evidence against the monstrous Libby Hatch, a serial killer whose kidnapping of an infant gets Kreizler on her trail and smack up against society's sentiments about the sanctity of women. Carr also offers some courtroom dramatics as Libby is put on trial, defended by Clarence Darrow. Like The Alienist, this is a talky thriller, paced less by its bursts of violence (culminating in the U.S. Navy invading Greenwich Village) than by its broodings; psychological, moral, legal, about the roots of evil. To experience it is to plunge into a meticulously reconstructed past where ideas count and where the principals take their time exploring them. Just so, readers will want to take their time exploring Carr's cleverly crafted sequel, a novel whose myriad pleasures exude the essence of intelligent leisure reading.

Library Journal

Boyd Gaines skillfully delivers a wide range of voices and characterizations in narrating this potboiler (LJ 10/15/97), the sequel to Carr's The Alienist. The time is June 1897. The place is New York City. The story is narrated by 13-year-old, streetwise Stevie Taggart, who is a member of a team of detecting irregulars. The kidnapping of an 18-month-old child sets the story in motion. The ongoing investigation uncovers a sociopath named Libby Hatch, who is a suspect in the deaths of a frightening number of children, including her own. Using the relatively new fields of forensics and psychoanalysis, and calling on the assistance of some well-known "names" (Teddy Roosevelt, Franz Boaz, Cornelius Vanderbuilt), the team runs Libby Hatch to earth. But where is the child she recently abducted? The clever zigzags of this thriller finally answer this question. Well recommended.

--Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Sch. of Continuing Education, Providence

J. Ashley - Over My Dead Body.com

...I realized why Carr makes the bestseller lists.....[W]hat I got was a darned good read....The book moves swiftly, and pages turn before you know it. The main characters are lively and energetic, and their energy rubs off on the rest of the story, which is mainly a police procedural, a courtroom drama, and a frantic investigation all rolled into one....If you're afraid of flying, read this on your next flight, and you won't even notice you're in the air.

Time

Fascinating....Good Courtroom Drama...In a brilliant bit of historical casting, Clarence Darrow, a rising courtroom wizard from Chicago, turns up to ....rising courtroom wizard from Chicago, turns up to ...defend the villain at a tense upstate New York murder trial.

USA Today