Cyrus Montrose
Cyrus is Dr Kreizler's valet, driver, and alter ego. He, like Stevie, is not a formal member of the team but in his role as Dr Kreizler's valet he does help the team quite a lot.
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Biography
Cyrus Montrose is described by John in The Alienist as Dr. Kreizler's "valet, occasional driver, effective bodyguard, and alter ego" (A 34). He has had little chance of defining himself outside his association with Dr. Kreizler thus far in the novels; however, there is reason to believe he may narrate the "third Alienist novel" which is apparently in the works. Stevie mentions in The Angel of Darkness that Cyrus, currently single, will marry a woman named Merle Spotswood "not too long after the business of Libby Hatch [is] completed" (A0D 742), which would place him in the perfect position to narrate the next novel. However, for now, we have to work with what we have.
Cyrus, an African American, grew up in New York, and as a child saw his parents tortured and killed in the draft riots of 1863. It is described thus in The Alienist: "[...] angry hordes of white men and women, many of them recently arrived immigrants, expressed their unwillingness to fight for the causes of the Union and slave emancipation by laying hold of any blacks they could find—including young children—and dismembering them, burning them alive, tarring them" (A 42). At this point he was taken in by his uncle, who trained him to be a "professor," in this case meaning a piano player in the uncle’s brothel. Cyrus’ childhood was therefore not a happy one, and it is currently unclear exactly how it has affected him, since little is known about him, but it is apparent, from the circumstances that brought him to live with Dr. Kreizler, that it has affected him quite deeply.
In 1887, Cyrus discovered a drunken policeman beating a black female prostitute and calling her a "nigger bitch" (A 42), to which he responded by murdering the man with a large butcher knife. Dr. Kreizler came to his defense in court, claiming that in the moment he had suffered from "explosive association" (A 42), causing him to return to the moment of his parents’ death, and had "responded to the situation in the only way possible for a man with his background" (A 42). Cyrus was subsequently sent to work for Dr. Kreizler. The racism he suffered in these events as well as that which he constantly suffers throughout the books is an important aspect of his character, one which will most likely be pursued in more depth if a novel is narrated by him.
Cyrus Montrose is described in The Alienist as having a "controlled manner and appearance" (A 34); he is always very calm and reserved. He is a large and strong man, and often makes John nervous, but he is very soft-spoken and is always composed. Because he is so reserved, not much is known of his opinions or tastes; it is apparent in The Alienist that John barely knows him and does not really understand him, but even Stevie in The Angel of Darkness is not able to provide much insight into his character, only increasing his enigmatic quality. We do know, however, that he is an excellent musician and has quite a passion for music: he plays piano very well and has, as John describes, "a splendid bass-baritone voice" (A 42). We also know that he will, in future, probably make a good father: it is revealed that he and Merle Spotswood will have three children, one of whom will be enrolled in Harvard Medical School.