"Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

"Devil in the White City" follows two very different men under the backdrop of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair: Daniel Burnham and H.H. Holmes. Burnham was the chief architect responsible for building the fair, and Holmes was a psychopathic and deceivingly charming killer whose house of murder was just a short distance away from the bright lights and magic of the World’s Fair.

Once you start reading this book, it’s easy to get frustrated. This book is classified as a true crime book, but a lot of the beginning is about architecture and how Burnham got the construction started, etc. It got pretty boring at times, and it felt like the Holmes story was more of an afterthought to the book, to make the work seem more interesting. (It’s a historical work about architecture…but don’t worry, there’s a psycho killer!) Was it interesting? Yes. I was amazed how the author did his research as well; old letters, newspaper articles, public record. But I started skimming some of the chapters after a while. Keep in mind that this book is more of a historical work about the history of the World’s Fair (and the start of amusement/theme parks) than about a serial killer.