10 Questions: Caleb Carr's "The Alienist" Multiple Choice Quiz | Literature

Answer: Laszlo Kreizler

An "alienist" was an early term for a psychiatrist or psychologist - they explored the minds of people who were considered alienated from society.

Answer: John Schuyler Moore

John Moore wins a leave of absence from the Times after promising he will give them first publication rights to the case he is working on. He knows that the Times will never choose to run a story about gruesome murders.

Answer: Theodore Roosevelt's secretary

Sara is lucky to be employed by the forward-thinking Roosevelt, since very few jobs are open to women. When she joins the investigation, Roosevelt gives her his blessing and encouragement. This novel does feature a female brothel owner, but it isn't Sara. The killer nanny and gang leader's girlfriend appear in Carr's next novel.

Answer: Stevepipe

Due to an absent father and neglectful mother, young Stevie had been surviving on the streets from the age of three. He used a lead pipe to knock victims out before robbing them. Dr. Kreizler's intervention saved him from a life behind bars.

Answer: The New York Draft Riots

Working-class New Yorkers drafted to fight in the Civil War took their anger and frustrations out on freed slaves who lived in the city (1863). After witnessing his parents' brutal murders, Cyrus was prone to violence until hired by Dr. Kreizler, who trusted him without reservation.

Answer: He has just died

"January 8th, 1919...Theodore is in the ground" is the way his college friend John Schuyler Moore begins this memoir. In the narrative, set in 1896, Roosevelt is serving a brief term as a "reform" commissioner. He will later conduct the raid on San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War, and eventually go on to become President in 1901.

Answer: Cigarette smoking

Even though most of the adults in the story smoke (including Dr. Kreizler), the doctor shows good intuition in attempting to break young Stevie's addiction. He is not successful, and Stevie eventually (as relayed in the sequel) goes on to open a tobacco shop and begins showing the ill health effects of smoking.

He does talk to horses, but this is evidence of his kindness toward the animals that transport the characters everywhere in the city. Rather than wanting to kill Mr. Roosevelt, Stevie (like the other characters) is in awe of the man's energy and idealism. Whether or not Stevie wears a hat is never mentioned in the narrative.

Answer: Detective sergeants

Police commissioner Roosevelt not only breaks tradition by hiring a woman, he also promotes two Jewish brothers through the ranks of the predominantly Irish police force. The Isaacson brothers were originally considering careers in medicine and law, but now bring "radical" and unproven methods to their police work, including ballistics and fingerprinting.

They work closely together when they aren't bickering about who was the favored child in their family.

Answer: Delmonico's

The array of culinary creations at Delmonico's is one of the many interesting historical side notes of this novel. Paresis Hall is one of the "houses of ill repute" mentioned in the novel. Fraunces' Tavern near Wall Street is a landmark of the American Revolution. The Plaza Hotel did not open until 1907.

Answer: Bodies of water

The earliest victims are discovered in a water tower but not tied to the current case until later. The story begins with Georgio Santorelli's body at the construction site of the Brooklyn Bridge. Other victims are found near the aquarium under construction at Battery Park, at the Statue of Liberty, and at the Croton Reservoir.