The author of In the Garden of Beasts brings turn-of-the-century Chicago to vivid life in this gripping history, a finalist for the National Book Award. Erik Larson intertwines the stories of two men: the brilliant architect behind the 1893 World's Fair, who strove to secure America's reputation in the eyes of the world, and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their deaths. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting suspense, this is a narrative with the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.

"Larson is a historian," praises the Chicago Sun-Times, "with a novelist's soul."