I've almost finished this book and it's easily as good as his other: "The Alienist".

Reviews:

From the Publisher
It is June 1897. A year has passed since Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a pioneer in forensic psychiatry, tracked down the brutal serial killer John Beecham with the help of a team of trusted companions and a revolutionary application of the principles of his discipline. Kreizler and his friends - high-living crime reporter John Schuyler Moore; indomitable, derringer-toting Sara Howard; the brilliant (and bickering) detective brothers Marcus and Lucius Isaacson; powerful and compassionate Cyrus Montrose; and Stevie Taggert, the boy Kreizler saved from a life of street crime - have returned to their former pursuits and tried to forget the horror of the Beecham case. But when the distraught wife of a Spanish diplomat begs Sara's aid, the team reunites to help find her kidnapped infant daughter. It is a case fraught with danger, since Spain and the United States are on the verge of war. Their investigation leads the team to a shocking suspect: a woman who appears to the world to be a heroic nurse and a loving mother, but who may in reality be a ruthless murderer of children.

From The Critics
Publisher's Weekly
The multitudes who enjoyed The Alienist are in for a surprise when they open this comfortable sequel to that mega-seller. Gone is the crisp, educated narration of New York Times reporter James Moore, replaced by the hotter, more ragged tones of former street urchin Stevie, a relatively minor figure in the first novel. That's a bold move on Carr's part. Conan Doyle never replaced Watson, but not too bold, as it cuts staleness. Otherwise, the novel retreads its predecessor's prowl through Olde New York and resurrects its catchy crime-busting crew of alienist Laszlo Kreizler and his carefully typecast assistants, as well as a flurry of historical figures (Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Teddy Roosevelt, et al.) whose appearances again blend into the action like stones into cake batter. Why tinker with success? Carr doesn't really, though for variety's sake he takes Kreizler and company upstate for a spell as they gather evidence against the monstrous Libby Hatch, a serial killer whose kidnapping of an infant gets Kreizler on her trail and smack up against society's sentiments about the sanctity of women. Carr also offers some courtroom dramatics as Libby is put on trial, defended by Clarence Darrow. Like The Alienist, this is a talky thriller, paced less by its bursts of violence (culminating in the U.S. Navy invading Greenwich Village) than by its broodings; psychological, moral, legal, about the roots of evil. To experience it is to plunge into a meticulously reconstructed past where ideas count and where the principals take their time exploring them. Just so, readers will want to take their time exploring Carr's cleverly crafted sequel, a novel whose myriad pleasures exude the essence of intelligent leisure reading.

Library Journal
Boyd Gaines skillfully delivers a wide range of voices and characterizations in narrating this potboiler (LJ 10/15/97), the sequel to Carr's The Alienist. The time is June 1897. The place is New York City. The story is narrated by 13-year-old, streetwise Stevie Taggart, who is a member of a team of detecting irregulars. The kidnapping of an 18-month-old child sets the story in motion. The ongoing investigation uncovers a sociopath named Libby Hatch, who is a suspect in the deaths of a frightening number of children, including her own. Using the relatively new fields of forensics and psychoanalysis, and calling on the assistance of some well-known "names" (Teddy Roosevelt, Franz Boaz, Cornelius Vanderbuilt), the team runs Libby Hatch to earth. But where is the child she recently abducted? The clever zigzags of this thriller finally answer this question. Well recommended.

--Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Sch. of Continuing Education, Providence

J. Ashley - Over My Dead Body.com
...I realized why Carr makes the bestseller lists.....[W]hat I got was a darned good read....The book moves swiftly, and pages turn before you know it. The main characters are lively and energetic, and their energy rubs off on the rest of the story, which is mainly a police procedural, a courtroom drama, and a frantic investigation all rolled into one....If you're afraid of flying, read this on your next flight, and you won't even notice you're in the air.

Time
Fascinating....Good Courtroom Drama...In a brilliant bit of historical casting, Clarence Darrow, a rising courtroom wizard from Chicago, turns up to ....rising courtroom wizard from Chicago, turns up to ...defend the villain at a tense upstate New York murder trial.

USA Today
Gripping...Carr is at his strongest exploring the dark underside of the human psyche and ferreting out the terrors and tragedies that drive men-and women--to kill...In Libby Hatch, Carr has created a villain whose cunning is nearly equal to his detectives crime-solving prowess...The mystery is plotted with military precision.

I will leave this for someone to pick up at work very soon.

Not really into fiction and coworker handed this to me unannounced. Of course, he didn't know that I'm not into fiction. Anyway, I read this book's prequel, The Alienist, and absolutely loved it. However, for some reason, I couldn't get into this book and only managed to complete about 100 pages. It seems like Carr is repeating himself a little with this much anticipated follow up. I still think Carr is an impressively informative and intriguing writer, but I prefer reading a variety of very different kinds of books. I find it difficult to stick with a couple of writers and simply read everything they've written. I know alot of people who do this and quite frankly, I don't understand it. I don't think it's a very imaginative approach to enlightening yourself. I've read alot of different books; everything from a biography on mathmetician John Nash to business books by Donald Trump. Anyway, in defense of Carr, many fiction writers repeat themselves. I think many of them tend to cater to their loyal readers who expect familiarity. I can understand that. Familiarity is what sells books.
Selling books is what keeps the bills paid.

CAUGHT IN SPRINGFIELD ILLINOIS USA

RELEASE NOTES:

Lobby of Amtrak station in Springfield, Illinois.