They say don't judge a book by its cover: I need to stop judging books by the descriptions on the back. I started this book expecting something very different. The description on the back cover lead me to believe it was about murder happening in the White City. I expected a connection between Holmes and the fair, but there wasn't really. Holmes came to Chicago and then the fair's construction work began. These two stories were told independently in the same book which was a disappointment to me.
Expectations aside, however, this was a well-written and exciting read, for about 50%. The parts about the construction of the fair were not exciting. It seemed that the author really wanted to write a book about Holmes but felt the need to tamper the excitement with construction work. I mostly skimmed those sections because I don't care how much steel was used in the construction of the first Ferris Wheel.
But. The chapters on Holmes. Wow. What a sick, twisted man. It was so hard to remind myself continually that this was true. It read so much like a fiction, and because of the horror, I desperately wanted to believe it was a fiction. Larson had a way of introducing each murder that was twisted in itself. The murders often felt like an afterthought. At the end of the chapter, he would say, "Oh yeah, and she was never heard from again." Or "The next time any of her family saw her, she would be unrecognizable because it would only be a skeleton used for education purposes." WHAT. Thus, imagine my disappointment when I would then have to read 20 pages on someone's sore tooth and the damage caused by water and wind to half built buildings.
When the fair finally kicked off, it was much more exciting: reading everything about the fair, the exhibits, the people who came, that was fun and exciting. I just wish less was spent on the pre-fair and more time was spent on the fair, especially considering that was what the cover described.
I do plan to read more on Holmes, and I might read more about the fair: just hopefully no more on the construction.
