No. Nope. When you're contemplating between reading a book and cleaning your atrociously messy apartment and end up choosing the latter... That says a lot about the appeal of the book, doesn't it?

My overall experience was actually very similar than what I had with The Alienist, so you might as well go read that review. The only difference was that Ackroyd's story jumped constantly from one place to another and felt very disjointed. Just when I was getting into a character or a scene, it was switched to something else and left a nasty superficial aftertaste in my mouth.

Once again, I liked the film adaptation more than the book. Which led me to think that maybe I enjoy Victorian (and, more broadly, history) things in visual form, and therefore I should focus on that and actual 19th century novels instead? Then again, there's The Crimson Petal and the White (2002). It can't be the only good one out there. Please tell me it's not just an anomaly!