The Devil in the White City

The Devil in the White City is an amazing book that shows how The Great Expedition in Chicago was built and how a criminal mastermind uses the fair to lure his victims in to his clutches.

Erik Larson does an excellent job with his book. The book is written using actual excerpts from letters, press releases, and police statements. This makes Larson's style very unique and appealing, at least to me.

The characters in The Devil in the White City are very realistic. We learn what goes through their minds as they make decisions that affect the the greatest worlds fair ever. The characters make the book better, however they are certainly not the best part of an amazing novel.

Picture the 1890's boom town of Chicago, where crime and the upper-class live together in a mass jungle of metal. This is the setting of Larson's novel. The setting is not very well described as a whole, but the portions are well described. The setting, as were the characters, make the book better, but is still not the best part.

Chicago has been given the task or creating a world's fair to rival that of Paris' two years before. This already monumental task is made harder by the time period given to complete the project, two years. We follow the architects as they desperately try to finish the fair that will make Chicago in time. As all this is happening a handsome young man rolls into town. With him a shaky past. We follow this man as he goes on a disturbing killing spree, using the fair as his bait.

I would recommend this book to any history lover. The use of excerpts of actual documents is appetizing to the mind of any history buff. I would also recommend this book to non-history lovers who just love good books.



This book is 447 pages.