The Devil in the White City Book Review

To hold you over until I get my photos under control and posted (I know you are on the edge of your seats), I am going to share my book reviews from our trip this weekend.

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

In all fairness, I would actually give this book a 3.5 stars. But, it just didn't do enough for me to deserve four stars, in my book.

The story was engaging enough. However, I think that the threads connecting the two dueling stories - that of Burnham, the fair architect, and that of Holmes, the serial killer - was weak.

Yes, the events happened in the same city. Yes, it was an exciting time for the country and Chicago. But, I felt like the author unnecessarily wove the two stories together. I would have preferred two separate stories.

Towards the end, the information about the fair began to dwell too long and include too many historical details for my taste. I felt myself skimming over names, dates and building information. It started to read more like a history book and was less enjoyable. The information about Holmes always seemed incomplete, lacking something.

All in all, I wish the author could have stepped out a bit from historical accuracy to develop the Holmes story more. This was the most engaging of the two battling stories. He was a serial killer, for goodness sake. Where was the emotion? It wasn't there, because it wasn't documented in the extensive research the author completed (which I commend him for).

If you are looking for a factual story about the Chicago World's Fair and Holmes, this could be it. If you are looking for a little more, this falls short.

View all my reviews.