Erik Larson’s national bestseller The Devil in the White City is a unique double biography of opposite characters. The chronology of Daniel Burnham’s creation of the 1893 World’s Fair is sharply contrasted with the life of serial killer H.H. Holmes, who was skulking around Chicago at the same time. Larson’s book attempts to combine historical facts with suspenseful narrative – but does he succeed?

Larson’s book is a meticulously researched piece of writing. His attention to detail is seamlessly integrated into the narrative so that the reader appreciates the countless detailed facts without becoming weighted down by them. The flow of the book is extremely smooth, despite the alternating subjects. The only stylistic flaw in Larson’s storytelling is his tendency to end almost all chapters (actually, even section after section) with “dramatic” cliffhanger sentences, many of them as their own petite paragraph. For example:

At midnight, many nights, Mudgett would pace the street outside his lodging.

And,

But even he did not, and could not, grasp what truly lay ahead.

And even,

Which terrified her.

This occurs so often it actually takes away from a story that is already dramatic enough – the extra effect becomes irritating, as though Larson needs to constantly reassure the reader that the subject is interesting. Trust me, America’s first serial killer is interesting! Now calm down, sir.

Despite this one small (though constant) stylistic annoyance, Larson’s book is a fascinating study of two of America’s most interesting historical figures. I can’t claim to have heard of Daniel Burnham before reading, but my new-found admiration for him is entirely due to the power of Larson’s writing. And Larson’s descriptions of H.H. Holmes are equally strong and as creepy as you could hope for. So yes, Larson does successfully interweave the factual history and the fanciful storytelling, making it easy to see why this book is a bestseller. Overall, The Devil in the White City is an entertaining, and at times thrilling and horrifying, look into the heart of America at the turn of the 19th century.

Final Grade: B

See larger image The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America (Paperback) By (author) Erik Larson List Price: $15.00 USD New From: $5.00 In Stock Used from: $1.18 In Stock Release date February 10, 2004.

Every month we take turns picking one book that all three of us read and review. Our book of the month for February is Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America.

Synopsis from Publishers Weekly:

Not long after Jack the Ripper haunted the ill-lit streets of 1888 London, H.H. Holmes (born Herman Webster Mudgett) dispatched somewhere between 27 and 200 people, mostly single young women, in the churning new metropolis of Chicago; many of the murders occurred during (and exploited) the city’s finest moment, the World’s Fair of 1893. Larson’s breathtaking new history is a novelistic yet wholly factual account of the fair and the mass murderer who lurked within it. Bestselling author Larson (Isaac’s Storm) strikes a fine balance between the planning and execution of the vast fair and Holmes’s relentless, ghastly activities. The passages about Holmes are compelling and aptly claustrophobic; readers will be glad for the frequent escapes to the relative sanity of Holmes’s co-star, architect and fair overseer Daniel Hudson Burnham, who managed the thousands of workers and engineers who pulled the sprawling fair together on an astonishingly tight two-year schedule.

Have you guys read The Devil in the White City? If so, please tell us what you thought in the comments! If not, celebrate the romantic month of February with some thrilling true crime. Read along with us and check back for our reviews later this month!

Updated: Check out our reviews: Ranjana’s.