The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

Very slow start, but it picked up about half way through, last few chapters were the best. Cool historical info!

This book was very interesting. Everyone has heard of H.H. Holmes at this point in history but to know the story as it coincided with the world's fair was very interesting. The book is written well and does not feel like a textbook though there are some dry parts that could have done with less direct quotes.

Barbara's pick. 👍🏻 Historical fiction/true crime. About one of the earliest serial killers, H.H. Holmes and how he used the World's Fairs to hide his reign of terror.

Picked up this one on the recommendation of a family member - and I'd mostly enjoyed another of Larson's books - In the Garden of Beasts. Much like my take on that one, this book reads more like a history lesson than a compelling story. And, other than the two themes of this book (the Chicago World's Fair and Holmes's story) taking place during the same time period in the same location, I don't seen why they were combined into one book. I was expecting victims to be found throughout the fair or key players in the fair to become victims, but that was not to be (or was not what happened). Each story, on its own, is compelling, but the combination seems unrelated and odd. One thing I wish there were more of were photos of the people and places referenced in the book. Great descriptions of buildings and the grounds were made, but since this was an actual place, photos would have been fascinating.

It was a very good gripping book and I found it to be very shocking in that time era