Library Journal
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After writing novels set in the past and future, Carr situates his latest in the present, featuring Trajan Jones, criminal psychologist and expert on Dr. Laszlo Kreizler (the hero of the best-selling The Alienist). Using Kreizler's profiling methods, Jones had much success solving crimes for the NYPD until the political winds changed, and he was fired and exiled to upstate New York. Living on his aunt's farm, Jones enlists his former police partner Mike Li, an expert in trace evidence, to help him teach an online criminal justice class. Soon, though, Jones and Li are asked to consult on a local suspicious death of a "throwaway" kid, a teen who had been abandoned by his parents. As similar deaths occur and are not thoroughly investigated, Jones and Li begin to suspect that someone in power is trying to cover up these crimes. The deeper they dig, the more danger they encounter, and they won't be out of harm's way until they expose the perpetrators. VERDICT Carr fans will welcome another weighty foray into criminal psychology, but several tirades against TV forensics shows such as CSI and current forensics practices occasionally bog down the engrossing mystery. [TNT is adapting The Alienist for television.-Ed.]-Melissa DeWild, BookOps, New York P.L. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.