I really enjoyed The Alienist, the first book by Caleb Carr about Dr. Laszlo Kreitzler and his "colleagues". When I finished that story, I was very curious for more details. Angel of Darkness picks up soon after the previous case, and the action begins very soon. This story is narrated by the teenage Stevie Taggert, the street kid that Dr. Krietzler has taken in, and saved from a life of crime. A Spanish diplomat's child is kidnapped in public, and the mother sees her daughter a few days later on a train. She is not able to confront the woman, and soon enlists the services of Sarah Howard, who has started an investigation service. In a short amount of time, Sarah reassumbles the group and they pinpoint the suspect as Elsbeth Hunter. Yet, the deeper they dig into the woman's past, the more they discover of the hideousness nature of her crimes. With her many aliases, Elsbeth has traveled around New York kidnapping, and killing children.

Like the previous book, there were some cameos with great historical figures. Teddy Roosevelt makes a special appearance, this time as the Assistant Secratary of the Navy. Another historical figure that plays a small part in the story is Clarence Darrow (pre-Monkey Trial) when he defends Mrs. Hunter (or Hatch, or Frasier, Franklin... whichever name she decides to use!).

Carr is a gifted storyteller, and his books are hard to put down. I love the glimpses of early 20th century New York life. Stevie's narration of the story was a nice touch, and I appreciated seeing it from his vantage point.

Other readers have said that this does not compare to The Alienist, but personally I thought it was a great follow-up.

Released on Tuesday, September 16, 2003 at Kayters' Audio Book Box #2 in KAYTERS, postal release USA.

I got this one from the box... Thank goodnesss its abridged, because it's four tapes as it is!