The Devil in the White City

Sandy's Book #7: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Full disclosure: I didn't quite finish this book. With my book club meeting looming, I merely skimmed the last 50 or so pages. Then I ended up skipping the meeting in favor of happy hour drinks and a four-course dinner.

But back to the book, which intercuts between the planning and construction of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and the lurid activities of serial killer H.H. Holmes, who set up shop near the fairgrounds. I'll be frank. There was way too much detail about the architects, the planning, and the building of the fair for my taste. I found myself reading these chapters quickly just to move on to the serial killer ones (every other chapter deals with Holmes.) But if you're interested in Chicago, then you might find the whole darn book a page-turner, because there's gobs and gobs of the city's history and other trivia. Larson does an amazing job dramatizing everything considering it's non-fiction. So let me know if you want to read this, because I just happen to own a copy that I'll never read again...