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Thunderstruck |
Customer Rating: 
Sales Rank: 4081
Available from Amazon |
$10.17 |
A true story of love, murder, and the end of the world’s “great hush”
In <i>Thunderstruck</i>, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men—Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication—whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time.
Set in Edwardian London and on the stormy coasts of Cornwall, Cape Cod, and Nova Scotia, <i>Thunderstruck</i> evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping companies competed to build the biggest, fastest ocean liners, scientific advances dazzled the public with visions of a world transformed, and the rich outdid one another with ostentatious displays of wealth. Against this background, Marconi races against incredible odds and relentless skepticism to perfect his invention: the wireless, a prime catalyst for the emergence of the world we know today. Meanwhile, Crippen, “the kindest of men,” nearly commits the perfect crime.
With his superb narrative skills, Erik Larson guides these parallel narratives toward a relentlessly suspenseful meeting on the waters of the North Atlantic. Along the way, he tells of a sad and tragic love affair that was described on the front pages of newspapers around the world, a chief inspector who found himself strangely sympathetic to the killer and his lover, and a driven and compelling inventor who transformed the way we communicate. <i>Thunderstruck</i> presents a vibrant portrait of an era of séances, science, and fog, inhabited by inventors, magicians, and Scotland Yard detectives, all presided over by the amiable and fun-loving Edward VII as the world slid inevitably toward the first great war of the twentieth century. Gripping from the first page, and rich with fascinating detail about the time, the people, and the new inventions that connect and divide us, <i>Thunderstruck</i> is splendid narrative history from a master of the form.
<i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>
Larson takes forever to get to the story, which is a stretched point, at best. He spends way too much time on painstaking details for setup, most of which go nowhere, and very little time fleshing out the climax of the story, which he fairly breezes over. Haven't read his other book, but judging by this effort, the man does not know how to tell a story. Painfully and woefully disappointed! Hours of my life I'll never get back again.
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