Curious Toys

The Alienist meets The Devil in the White City: An intrepid young woman stalks a murderer through turn-of-the-century Chicago, in the transfixing new historical novel from Elizabeth Hand. In the sweltering summer of 1915, Pin, the fourteen-year-old daughter of a carnival fortune-teller, disguises herself as a boy and joins a teenage gang that roams the famous Riverview amusement park, looking for trouble. Unbeknownst to the well-heeled city-dwellers and visitors who come to enjoy the attractions, the park is also host to a ruthless killer who uses the shadows of the dark carnival attractions to conduct his crimes.