Thunderstruck

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

Category: History/True Crime Grade: A-

OK, so right after telling you I don't like true crime novels, here comes a good review for a book that is half crime non-fiction. Sorry.

Larson seems to have stepped in to a really interesting way to combine stories. He picks some major crime and some contemporary major historical event and weaves them together in to a non-fiction gem. He kind of did this in his first book, Isaac's Storm, a great book about the early 20th century hurricane that destroyed most of Galveston. He really mastered the technique in his second book, Devil in the White City. In that book, he interweaves the story of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with the story of one of the first known serial killers. Great book if you haven't read it.

Although the critics haven't been as kind to Thunderstruck, I thought it was right up there with Larson's previous books. The historical part of the book tells the story of Marconi and the development of wireless communications. Its actually a really interesting story that highlights the war between scientists and inventors, international business competition and even a little about the impact of business startups on marriages. Its really something that I new almost nothing about and it could have been an interesting book on its own.

True to his style though, Larson draws you in to the story of Hawley Crippen, a patent medicine salesman (among other things). This was apparently a very famous murder case at the time. Crippen ended up being one of Scotland Yard's big investigations (and more successful that the previous one - Jack the Ripper). It was also the first big murder that was followed all over the globe thanks to Marconi's new invention.

Larson's style is light. He's a storyteller not a historian. Doesn't really matter whether you come to this book because of the murder story or the Marconi story, you'll enjoy it either way.