The White City
A Novel of Murder at the Chicago World's Fair
-
-
5.0 • 1 Rating
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
From the depths of the seediest brothels to the pristine enclaves of the elite, The White City is a strange, beguiling first novel by Alec Michod, a thriller that masterfully blends fact and fiction. An exhilarating voyeur's glimpse at Chicago in all its glory, it also probes the dark side that was never far from its core.
It is the year of our lord, 1893. The crackle of electricity's first sparks, the mechanical whine of Ferris's wheel, the tinkling of crystal from the majestic city atop the hill--the sounds of a new era pervade the air as the century's last World's Fair commences in Chicago.
But darkness lurks beneath the metropolis so austere it has been dubbed the White City. Strikes loom on the horizon, racism runs rampant, and a murderer unlike any America has ever seen before is on the loose, terrorizing the city. His crimes are so brutal, newspapers have christened him the Husker. Hiding behind the cloak of a city in chaos, he taunts his pursuers, littering the grounds of the fair with the corpses of children as he slips through the shadows.
Dr. Elizabeth Handley, the first forensic psychologist of her kind, has been called in to capture the killer, but when the son of prominent architect William Rockland goes missing, the case takes on an entirely new urgency. In this city of bombastic politics and cutthroat egos, everyone has his own agenda, but time is running out. As she races to save the boy, Dr. Handley fights to maintain her sanity as the line between captor and quarry blurs, and violence casts its spell.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
It's always a tough choice with historical fiction: risk bogging down the story with painstaking accuracy, or play fast and loose with the facts. Debut novelist Michod takes the latter tack in his fast-paced, sensational rush through the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, where the hunt is on for a serial killer who preys on young boys. Beginning with an immediate sensory whirl wind whipping off Lake Michigan, bustling exhibition halls, excited crowds this literate thriller pulls readers along pell-mell until the end. When young Billy Rockland, son of a prominent Chicago architect, wanders away from his parents, he's discovered by the ominous Skurlock, who whisks him into the fair's dark fringes. Meanwhile, the corpses of mutilated boys have the city in a panic. Add to the mix Potter Palmer, a prominent industrialist and friend of the grieving Rocklands; a twisted subplot involving striking workers and blackmail; the intrepid (but sometimes disoriented) forensic psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Handley; and of course the killer himself, who may or may not be the man dragging around the uncomplaining Billy. Michod keeps the suspense high, and he enlivens his tale with plenty of period visuals; he also indulges in a stylized, torqued syntax that can be awkward. While first-novel prose excesses may be excusable, fuzzy characterization is not; the urges and motivations of the main players are implausible at key moments, and readers may find it difficult to suspend disbelief and sympathize. This is a smart, daring attempt to weave fact and fiction, but here's hoping that Michod's next story doesn't get lost in the razzle-dazzle.
