Tag: The Alienist

Happy 10th Anniversary, 17th Street!

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The Statue of LibertyAs 2015 draws to a close, I would like to take a moment to recognise 17th Street’s 10th anniversary! 17th Street first went live on December 31st, 2005 with the aim of providing Caleb Carr’s readers with a one-stop resource for the Alienist books. Although I had hoped to put something together to commemorate this special milestone, time has not been on my side for the second half of the year; however, as 2015 turned out to be the year I finally made it to New York City — even staying for a week in a brownstone on Irving Place and 17th Street — perhaps I have recognised the milestone after all. For those readers who haven’t seen an account of my travels, you can read about them in the two Following The Footsteps of Dr. Kreizler blogs posted earlier this year.

To close out 2015, I have two final updates to 17th Street’s content that may be of interest to visitors. First, The Alienist TV Series page has been updated to reflect the news that Cary Fukunaga will not be directing the entire TV series. It is not yet clear who else will be directing or how having more than one director will impact the series, but as more news comes to light it will be updated here. Second, Caleb Carr recently wrote another op-ed that has been added to the Other Publications page.

Thank you all once more for an enjoyable year of running 17th Street. 2015 has proven to be an exciting year for Alienist readers with a considerable amount of news regarding the eagerly anticipated TV series, more news regarding Caleb Carr than we have seen in many years, and for this lucky Alienist reader, there was also my aforementioned trip to New York City. In addition to those updates, 17th Street has also seen the addition of four new book blogs, a discussion piece on the books we love, and various odds-and-ends updates to the website content. Finally, for the curious among you, here are the top ten most frequently visited pages on the site throughout 2015:

10. Third Alienist Book
9. Caleb Carr Press
8. Caleb Carr News
7. Caleb Carr Biography
6. The Alienist Summary
5. The Alienist TV Series
4. The Alienist Map of New York City
3. Full Character List
2. The Alienist Movie
1. The Alienist Timeline

And with that, have a safe and happy new year, everyone! I look forward to seeing what 2016 brings.

Cary Fukunaga talks The Alienist with EW

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Cary FukunagaIn a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly regarding his latest production Beasts of No Nation, Cary Fukunaga shared some interesting details about how his role as director for The Alienist TV series might play out. Commenting on the lengthy preparation time the series’ “hundreds of pages” of material would require (as opposed to the “100 or 110 pages of material” required for a typical feature film), he explained: “If I were to direct the whole thing, I would probably break it up into two or three parts, almost as if it was two or three movies, and then prep them in that way.” Given the need for such a pre-production, he went on to state that he has considered taking on a “directional partner” so that they “could hop-scotch and help each other out and really approach it in the same spirit of a film, which is collaboration. They’re equal with you in terms of executing it.”

Having directed the eight episode series True Detective solo, EW reports that this would be the first time Fukunaga has ever taken on a directional partner, so such a move would certainly be an interesting development. Whether such a step is taken, however, will largely depend upon the scripts that are turned in, and Fukanaga’s bosses are also said to prefer his tackling the show on his own as well.

Cary Fukunaga’s full comments can be found at the Entertainment Weekly article. You can also catch up on prior developments regarding the series at 17th Street’s TV series page, or by perusing The Alienist TV series tag here on the blog.

Photo Credit: “Cary Fukunaga2009” by Johan Gunnarsson – Flickr: Cary Fukunaga. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Patrick Connor Character Profile

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It has long bothered me that The Alienist’s supporting characters do not yet have completed character profiles here on 17th Street, particularly the historical figures. In order to correct this, I have decided to devote the next several months to finally completing the profiles once and for all. By way of beginning, you can find the newly completed character profile for Detective Sergeant Patrick Connor below as well as on the supporting characters list.

I cannot predict how long it will take me to complete the rest of the profiles given that most are historical figures, and I will be aiming to read at least one biography for each figure to aid me in completing their profile. I apologise for the lack of updates this will undoubtedly produce, but I’m sure you would agree with me that completed profiles for all the supporting characters are long overdue, and I hope you will understand why I’m taking the time away from the blog in order to finally complete this section of the site.

Connor, Detective Sergeant Patrick

Appears in The Alienist

John Moore, journalist and narrator of The Alienist, first meets Detective Sergeant Patrick Connor when he views the body of Giorgio Santorelli atop the Manhattan-side anchor of the Williamsburg Bridge in the opening chapters of the novel. Described only as slit-eyed and bearded, Connor is an adherent of the policing practices and attitudes that prevailed under Thomas Byrnes, the former police superintendent who had been forced into retirement the preceding year as a result of the wave of reform that followed the Lexow Committee’s investigation into police corruption. After initially causing Dr. Laszlo Kreizler consternation for spreading false information about the identity of the Giorgio’s murderer to members of the press, it does not take long before Connor is expelled from the force after it is discovered that he had also beaten Giorgio Santorelli’s father unconscious for refusing a bribe from a mysterious group attempting to hush the murder up.

Click here to read more. Warning: Contains spoilers for The Alienist

Despite his removal from the police force, Connor reappears later in the investigation when he forces John Moore and Dr. Kreizler into an ambulance at gunpoint in order to transport them to a meeting with the mysterious group composed of church officials, anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock, and even the former police superintendent who have been covering up the murders and are opposed to the team’s investigation. Although the moderator for this meeting, the powerful financier J. P. Morgan, gives his approval for the investigation to continue after hearing Dr. Kreizler’s arguments in its favor, it soon becomes apparent that Connor and his associates—working under orders from others in the group who remain steadfastly opposed to the investigation—are determined to continue tracking Dr. Kreizler and the rest of the team as they perform their investigation, with tragic consequences.

When Dr. Kreizler and John leave New York City to follow a promising lead toward the conclusion of the investigation, Connor and his men lose track of their quarry and invade Dr. Kreizler’s house to establish his whereabouts from his household staff. Employing their usual strong-arm tactics, Connor and his associates attempt to beat the answer out of Dr. Kreizler’s young ward, Stevie Taggert; however, they are thwarted in this attempt by Mary Palmer, the Doctor’s housekeeper and love interest, who attempts to fight them off with a kitchen knife. Although she is successful in scaring them off—with her knife ending up in Connor’s side—she is knocked to the bottom of a flight of stairs during this altercation, and breaks her neck.

Even though Dr. Kreizler removes himself from the investigation at this point in order to care for Stevie and grieve the loss of Mary, it eventually transpires that Connor and his men have continued to track Dr. Kreizler’s movements. On the night Dr. Kreizler agrees to rejoin the investigation—a night when he knows the murderer, John Beecham, will strike—Connor follows Dr. Kreizler to the site of the final confrontation with Beecham, and intervenes with the intention of ensuring that Beecham is killed once and for all. Although Dr. Kreizler foresees this eventuality and takes steps to ensure their safety by hiring additional protection in the form of gangster Jack McManus, Connor still manages to kill Beecham before Sara Howard arrives on the scene and finally stops the former Detective Sergeant with a fatal shot from her revolver.

Following The Footsteps of Dr. Kreizler: A Travel Blog – Part Two

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View Part One and Part Two of Following The Footsteps of Dr. Kreizler: A Travel Blog.

As regular visitors would be aware, I took a slightly different approach with the 17th Street blog last week by posting up an account of my recent Alienist-related travels that took me from Toronto, down through New York state following the Hudson River, before finally arriving on the Upper West Side of New York City. This week, I conclude my travel blog with an account of the second half of my holiday in New York, predominantly spent in the historic districts around Union Square where I was finally able to visit the locations that make up the heart of the Alienist novels. Enjoy!

The Inn At Irving Place

Following my short walk in Central Park with thunder rolling in the distance and storm clouds threatening, I moved from my hotel on the Upper West Side to my second hotel in the East 17th Street/Irving Place Historic District where I stayed for my final five nights in the city. When I had originally decided that I wanted to spend at least a portion of my trip down in the Union Square area, I looked at a number of different hotel options but ultimately couldn’t go past The Inn at Irving Place.

Ideally situated, the boutique hotel offered an experience I would not get anywhere else: an opportunity to get a taste of my favourite characters’ lifestyles by staying in a restored New York brownstone located only two blocks from Gramercy Park to the north, two blocks from Stuyvesant Square to the east, and one block from Union Square to the west. After checking in with the manager whose desk was located in the front parlor (see photos 3-4 below), I stayed in the “O Henry room” (see photos 6-12 below) which was tastefully appointed with genuine antiques and was well-proportioned, quiet, and had an unexpectedly large bathroom (for New York City). Located at the back of the brownstone on the second floor, the room had a pleasant view of the terrace and surrounding buildings (see photo 13 below). My regular breakfast spot in the tea room on the first floor also offered a delightful view, both inside and out (see photos 14-15 below).

All in all, I couldn’t have been happier with my choice of hotel and highly recommend it for any Alienist readers or lovers of history who want to experience life from an earlier time in a restored New York brownstone. Watch the steps, though — they are steep! (Something I experienced later on at the Merchant’s House Museum, too.)

Given the storm that had moved in, I decided to stay close to the hotel for the rest of the day by getting a spot of lunch at Barnes & Noble on Union Square before going for a wander across to a very wet Stuyvesant Square where I saw an astonishing number of squirrels — a novelty for this Australian, and the most I had seen in any one spot during my entire trip! — until I finally admitted defeat and retreated back to The Inn. I couldn’t help feeling on this first afternoon as I listened to the thunder overhead and saw the trees outside my window being blown around that I had been transported into the summer storm described in Chapter 53 of The Angel of Darkness which the characters quietly wait out in the safety of Dr. Kreizler’s home, watching the wind-tossed trees in Stuyvesant Square across the road.

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