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I actually find myself sometimes skipping parts in order to get back to the more interesting story line (at least for me), that of H.H.Holmes. The book tells two stories that occur in the Chicago world's fair of 1893. We get a very interesting description of the discussions, meeting and reasoning behind various decisions that were taken in the construction of the fair, including a detailed description of the people involved and their backgrounds. The overall result is debatable: people who are looking for accurate historical novels might love it, while regular novels readers might get bored.
However, I feel that this is acceptable as a mean to tell the genuine story. To sum up, I would say that this is a new and a very interesting way to tell the two stories. The fact that the story is based on real information has its costs as you sometimes left with a desire for more details for things that are left unanswered. While reading, it is sometimes unreal to see what kind of sick mind that guy had.
The descriptions are very interesting and you get sucked pretty fast into the dark and cold Chicago of 1893. This story is built upon real information that is known about Holmes conducts. The first story is an historical account that describes the construction of the fair from the design stage until it is up and running. The story of the young pharmacist , H.H.Holmes is a very interesting one.
However, unless you are real enthusiastic about historical information, this kind of description gets tedious very fast. The second storyline, which intertwine with the first story is the tale of the handsome, women charmer murderer H.H.Holmes, who builds an horror hotel near the fair to catch and murder female tourists during the event.The first couple of chapters in the historical account are very intriguing. You read the stories of the different architects and artists how the buildings were built, the authentic entertainments that came from across the world and so on.
If you like history and mystery - this is your book. Devil in the White City is a page turner.
I would strongly recommend the book (and have done so many times already). Fantastic novel. Keeps you in suspense until the very end.
Giving anyone a picture perfect image of Chicago in the late 1800's. This book is very well written.
I have read MANY novels in just a day or 2. Obviously many people enjoyed reading about that, but I found it difficult to get through. I found those chapters to be quite boring and frankly a drag to get through. This book took me more than 2 months of evening reading to finish completely. But I thought there would be much more to that part of the story. I purchased this book while traveling, I had a very long layover.
Holmes, it is in fact much more focused on the building of the World's Fair. If a book interests me enough I will stay up until 3 or 4 am, just so I can finish it. It definitely looks interesting, and the synopsis had me intrigued. Most of the book is the mundane details of the buildings, dates, and architecture. Informative about the fair, but it really left me disappointed. What I thought would be a book centered around H.H.
Yes, there are definitely aspects of the true crime, and those parts do read like a novel.
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