This is the sequel to Carr's book The Alienist. Dr. Lazlo Kreisler and recurring characters from the first book return to search for the kidnapped daughter of a Spanish diplomat. The story is told 20 years later by Stevie Taggert, the boy Kreisler rescued from a life of crime on the streets of New York City and takes place a year after the doctor and his assistants tracked down a serial killer. This story has the twist of the kidnapper/killer being a chameleon of a woman who worked as a nurse with a record of young patients dying suddenly and keeping company with one of the notorious criminal gangs of New York. As in the first book, there are appearances by real life figures of the time including Diamond Jim Brady and the famous lawyer Clarence Darrow. The plot is good, the characters bring the story to life, and it is, for the most part, well written. But the story goes on too long. By three quarters through I was ready for it to end even with the audiobook read by one of my favorite narrators, George Guidall. Was it necessary to include so many occasions of the investigators dining and the bumpy details of every trip by wagon/carriage on country roads? Sometimes less is more.
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