<P>--The Record </P> <P> The book has received generally favorable reviews; "while most critics found it entertaining, some said it was sometimes flabby with historical detail and its prose was less than literature ." In a review published in Booklist, Brad Hooper calls The Alienist and Caleb Carr's sequel, The Angel of Darkness, "superbly atmospheric and compelling". A review of The Alienist in Forbes comments: "Wonderfully evocative of the age, this fascinating, fast - paced spine - tingler never flags ." Writing for The Record, Laurence Chollet notes: "The story feels like a Sherlock Holmes tale, reads like a modern thriller, and is historically accurate ." In his review in The Gazette of Colorado Springs, Victor Greto wrote: "Through his research into the New York of the late 19th century, (Carr) has also fleshed out an atmosphere and a time that, on the one hand, seems grimly real and unapproachably evil, but, on the other, is within our intellectual grasp ." In her review for Tulsa World, Patricia Ann Jones wrote that the novel "breaks new ground on several fronts . As a historical novel it paints an unrivaled picture of New York . As a thriller it sets a new pace . But as a psychological study it stands completely on its own . The writing is quite simply, superb ." </P> <P> In his review of the book for the Chicago Tribune, Mortal Sin author Paul Levine writes: "the long story never becomes tedious, and at the end the reader thirsts for another tale of Dr. Lazlo Kreizler". Kathye Self of the Houston Chronicle characterizes the work as "an out - and - out page - turner about the first time a' psychological profile' was used to track down a serial murderer". Christopher Lehmann - Haupt writes in The Tampa Tribune: "Carr has lovingly evoked not only a physical sense of old New York but the spirit of the time as well, when the powers in charge were worried about unrest among the masses of cheap immigrant labor ." In a review for The Seattle Times, Deloris Tarzan Ament comments: "A contributing editor to Military History Quarterly, Carr brings the dual sensibilities of historian and novelist to the story ." In his review for The Washington Post, novelist Jack Katzenbach argued that Carr's impeccable research and rich detail hindered the work's pace but rewarded readers by portraying "the excitement of a world on the verge of change, where invention was the stuff of daily miracle," specifically when it came to forensics . </P> <P> According to The New York Times, "the only real weakness of the book lies in the stringent rationality of Kreizler's investigation . The more his logic makes sense the less threatening his quarry seems, at least to the reader...The story's fatalism grows tedious...Nor does it help that throughout most of the story none of the major characters are directly threatened by the killer . Of course, it is deplorable that children are being murdered . But none of them figure strongly enough in the story to arouse the reader's visceral identification ." Scott Eyman of The Palm Beach Post was critical of the "flaccid dialogue" and "vague characters". Hary Levins from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that the novel does include a few notable anachronisms . For example, the "heroes display an early (and highly improbable) political correctness toward blacks and homosexuals . And his detective team anticipates the feminist movement by enlisting a tough - minded career woman who's unafraid to pack a pistol and spout a bit of scatological English ." </P>

Is the show the alienist based on true events