Historical fiction · Similar reads
Books like The Alienist
The best books like The Alienist are Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, and Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty. The Alienist by Caleb Carr is about psychology and criminal profiling, gilded age inequality, gender and power. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
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Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
Erik Larson · History
Dead Wake tells the story of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania on May 7, 1915, when a German U-boat torpedoed the British ocean liner off the coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard, including 128 Americans.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
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The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
Erik Larson · History
Erik Larson's The Splendid and the Vile covers Winston Churchill's first year as British Prime Minister — from May 1940, when he replaced Neville Chamberlain three days after Germany's invasion of the Low Countries, through May 1941.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary → - Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
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Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
Patrick Radden Keefe · History
Empire of Pain is Patrick Radden Keefe's account of the Sackler family — the dynasty behind Purdue Pharma and the opioid crisis — told across three generations.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary → - The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
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The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War
Ben Macintyre · History
Ben Macintyre tells the story of Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB officer who became the most important British spy of the Cold War.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary → - 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
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1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
Charles C. Mann · History
Charles Mann's 1491 sets out to correct a widespread misconception: that the Americas before Columbus were a mostly empty wilderness populated by small, isolated bands of hunter-gatherers living in gentle harmony with an untouched nature.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary → - Alias Grace
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Margaret Atwood · Historical fiction
Alias Grace is based on the historical case of Grace Marks, a young Irish immigrant servant who was convicted in 1843, along with stable hand James McDermott, of the murders of her employer Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper Nancy Montgomery in Upper Canada.
Both dig into gender and power.
Read the summary → - Night Watch
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Terry Pratchett · Fantasy
Night Watch is the twenty-ninth Discworld novel and the one many readers consider Pratchett's masterpiece.
Both dig into institutional corruption.
Read the summary → - Tell No One
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Harlan Coben · Thriller
Tell No One is a standalone thriller by Harlan Coben published in 2001.
Both dig into institutional corruption.
Read the summary → - The Luminaries
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Eleanor Catton · Literary fiction
The Luminaries is set in Hokitika, a New Zealand gold-rush town, in 1866.
Both dig into gender and power.
Read the summary → - The Pelican Brief
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John Grisham · Thriller
Two Supreme Court justices are assassinated in a single night.
Both dig into institutional corruption.
Read the summary → - The Power of the Dog
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Don Winslow · Thriller
The Power of the Dog is Don Winslow's epic of the American drug war, covering roughly three decades from the 1970s to the early 2000s and tracing the rise of the Sinaloa cartel through the lives of a DEA agent, a priest, a hitman, a cartel boss, and several other figures whose fates are bound together by money, faith, violence, and the specific kind of corruption that a war without exit produces.
Both dig into institutional corruption.
Read the summary → - A Gentleman in Moscow
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Amor Towles · Historical fiction
In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced by a Bolshevik tribunal — not to death, but to permanent house arrest in Moscow's Metropol Hotel.
A kindred historical fiction read.
Read the summary →
Books like The Alienist: quick answers
What are the best books like The Alienist?
The best books like The Alienist by Caleb Carr are Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson, Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe, The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Alienist, such as psychology and criminal profiling, gilded age inequality, gender and power.
What should I read after The Alienist?
A natural next read after The Alienist is Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson. A kindred historical fiction read. Other strong choices are The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson, Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe, The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre.
What books are similar to The Alienist by Caleb Carr?
The Alienist centers on psychology and criminal profiling, gilded age inequality, gender and power. Books with a similar feel include Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson, Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe, The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann, Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
