The Waterworks – E.L. Doctorow

There’s an annoying thing...in this book...where dotdotdot ellipses...occur randomly.

Nevertheless, Doctorow is a class act and I soon got over that tic to enjoy the Gothic atmosphere of 1870s NYC, reminiscent of Caleb Carr’s The Alienist mashed with Gangs of New York with a dash of Edith Wharton. The plot starts off as a missing person mystery before morphing into something extremely sinister.

It’s a fine, high-class page-turner, and ripe for adaptation into a Call of Cthulhu adventure.