Thunderstruck
Ratings43
Average rating3.7
15
Ratings43
Average rating3.7
A true story of love, murder, and the end of the world's "great hush." In Thunderstruck, 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, Thunderstruck 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. Thunderstruck presents a vibrant portrait of an era of seances, 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, Thunderstruck is splendid narrative history from a master of the form.From the Hardcover edition.
Reviews with the most likes.
I LOVED Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City, so was really looking forward to reading Thunderstuck and it did not disappoint! Mr. Larson just has such a wonderful way of combining stories and making them compelling to read. That being said, the two separate stories in Thunderstruck (Dr. Crippin/Marconi) did not meld as well as those in The Devil in the White City, so it was like reading two seperate stories that connected for the briefest moment at the end. Because of that I found Thunderstruck to be slightly less enjoyable on the whole, but still a very entertaining and if you are a fan, worth the read!
This is my third Larson book to read (and enjoy). He has a knack for blending historical fact with narrative to create fascinating story lines.
Erik Larson is best known for his amazing bestseller, “The Devil in the White City,” which is compelling and reads like fiction. Four years after “TDITWC” was published, Erik Larson followed up with “Thunderstruck.” This book was one of the first 10 books I marked as “to read” on Goodreads after signing up in 2009. As part of my attempt to reduce the size of my to-read list, I've been checking out titles that have lain fallow lo these 16 years.
For some time, I've been interested in learning more about Marconi because most of my knowledge comes from references on shows like Nova or fleetingly in other books and movies. Here, I thought, is the perfect way to do just that while reading some related true crime from an author whose previous released I absolutely loved. Further, it looks like Erik Larson spent a great deal of time researching the book.
Should have been a home run, right?
So, it is with what feels like tremendous guilt that I neither enjoyed nor can finish “Thunderstruck.” Authors today, and probably for most of history since the printing press was invented, are constantly under pressure to produce again and again, especially when they achieve a runaway success like “TDITWC.” I am not sure if that is the case with “Thunderstruck” or if I am just not in the focused mindset to give the book the attention it may need.
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