The Book of Air and Shadows

The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber

Category: Novel Grade: B-

I picked this one up because I had read a kidlit book that Gruber wrote last year and it was decent - not great, but decent. This is one of his adult novels and it falls in the same category. This is one of the many "son of DaVinci Code" books that I usually avoid. You know, modern day people discovery some ancient secret launching an across-the-ages thriller. In general in this category, you never really know whether what you're reading about is an actual ancient mystery or a modern day scam. Same with Gruber's book. It's got a very been there/done that feel to it.

In this case, the "discovery" revolves around a set of 17th century letters that talk about a plot to spy on Shakespeare and, ultimately, talks about an undiscovered play that is supposedly buried somewhere in England. An unknown Shakespeare play, especially one written in his own hand would, as you might imagine, be worth millions, if not hundreds of millions. Gangsters get involved - in fact rival groups of gangsters; a professor gets tortured and murdered; a lawyer and a wannabe fill maker get involved; there are a couple of mystery women; an ex-wife; an OCD kid... Gruber tries to jam so many different plot lines in to the novel, that, after a while, it just gets too confusing. He never gets the reader to the point where you really care much about these people and their complicated lives.