Devil in the White City follows two historical stories; that of the creation of a world's fair and of a serial killer active at the same time.

The world's fair story is utterly fascinating, unspooled in a suspenseful manner and well contextualized within the times.

The serial killer story is interesting as serial killer stories go. It's not a genre I'm a fan of, but the novel doesn't descend to the level of torture porn as some books do and the author has a nice sense for detail.

The problem with the book is these two stories don't connect in any real way. A weak argument is made that the chaos of the world's fair made it easier for the killer to proceed, but that's about it. I agree with another reviewer here that it feels like two short books stuck together to make a longer one.

It's hard to say if this is a failure of writing or premise. A good author can tie anything to anything, and having committed to this premise, it's surprising that this author - who writes very well - couldn't create a context within which this pairing made sense.

The book is often fascinating, full of interesting facts, and well worth reading, but the lack of cohesion and the way the book winds down into nothingness keeps it from being fully satisfying.