Thunderstruck

I was so excited when I'd heard that the author of Devil In The White City had written a new book. Unfortunately the execution of Thunderstruck that new book left me much less than excited.

This book trying to tie Marconi's invention of wireless communication, what would eventually become radio, to a murder committed by a Dr. Crippen was based on a connection as tenuous as Sarah Palin's grasp on foreign policy by virtue of Alaska's proximity to Russia. I would have much preferred to read only a book about Crippen. The Marconi parts were deadly dull to me, a reader who is not inclined to be excited about engineering and competing patent claims.

I would strongly recommend Devil in the White City, but not Thunderstruck. It was a great disappointment that I often considered putting down, but my Type A need for completion forbade it. Nevertheless I would not truly be the poorer for it had I put it down. More's the pity.