I feel a little obligated to state the obvious, but this is just my opinion. I really liked Isaac's Storm and White City, and if memory serves me they were 5 star books in my reviews. This book wasn't bad, and probably suffers more for me from high expectations based on his other works.
The plot device is the same as that of White City, one story is about the industry and the inventiveness of the day (in this case Marconi in the early 20th century) and the other is a murder mystery that somewhat connects to the invention. It is a little strained, but it's hard to blame a writer for injecting a little scandal into what otherwise might night be such a commercial account. In fact I give him points for cleverness.
The weakness was thrust upon him by his choice of characters to write about. Marconi was just not a very likeable figure, nor a very deep one, and I found myself not caring whether his invention took off and he got the credit or not. He was a hard worker, and highly persistent, but that is about the best that could be said about him. He was neither a loving father nor loving husband, and if he was a wit or a charmer we get no evidence of that. This is not Larson's fault, and he probably gives as lively account of Marconi and his work as the facts warrant, but for me the facts didn't warrant much.
The murder mystery was a little more interesting, but it had almost the opposite problem. You find yourself not caring about Marconi, but you find yourself caring a lot for the protagonist of the murder. Henpecked would not begin to describe the life of this otherwise kind soul, and based on what he put up with it is hard not to root for him to be let off with a warning. This story I thought was much more ably told, and the characters much more fleshed out, and almost pulls the book up another level for me. I'd still recommend, probably putting in the 3.5 star range, but I'd caution a Larson reader not to expect quite so much as from his other books; I think if you do that you will be less likely to come away disappointed. |
Thunderstruck (Random House Large Print (Cloth/Paper)) Books In Print, Audio Books.