So being from and living in Chicago, everyone I knew was appalled that I hadn't yet read this. I just never got around to it until now. It is strange that I didn't read it right away because I love Chicago architecture, reading about the history of architecture, and Chicago history in general. So I finally checked it out of the library.
For those unfamiliar, it is an well researched historical account (with some fictitious sections to fill in gaps of the way some things plausibly happened) of the construction of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair intertwined with the life of a serial killer in Chicago during that same time.
I was somewhat disappointed with the book, overall. While interesting, I already knew most of the architectural history. I did enjoy reading about the personal struggles of Daniel Burnham, John Root, and Fredrick Olmstead - the genius architects who made the White City the wonderful place it was. I found the story of H.H. Holmes, the sociopathic serial killer that stalked young women in Chicago during the fair to be intriguing, but I found the way it was intertwined into the World's Fair construction to be awkward. I would have liked to have read a story entirely about Holmes, with the Fair as a backdrop. But the way the two stories just flipped back and forth seemed forced.
Both could have been their own story independently, and I think it should have been that way. The story of the World's Fair and all the innovations that were first introduced to the world there is interesting all by itself. The Ferris Wheel and alternating current are two. And it's not like Holmes was stalking people INSIDE the fair or that he had any direct contact with the characters in the construction story (Burnham, Root, Olmstead, etc). It was just that his murders were occurring in Chicago during the same time as the fair.
For those interested in architectural history and/or Chicago history though, it's worth a read.
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