Books & Java

Thunderstruck

by Erik Larson

Synopsis:

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 séances, 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.

My Review:

Erik Larson can tell a story. Not only does he tell you the story, but he thoroughly educates you about the facts that surround that story. I was not familiar with the story of Hawley and Cora Crippen. Probably, the first truly fully unsolved mystery of its time because quite simply forensics just wasn't advanced enough to prove very much at the turn of the century. Pretty much if the circumstances of the crime scene pointed in the direction of a guilty verdict, then, so it was. Here, a mild-mannered, well-respected but highly unsuspecting man marries a kind of bully of a woman. She controls him (as much as he lets her control him of course) and after many years of "putting up with her" he decides to end it in the most gruesome mutilation murder one can't even imagine. No bones, no identifying sexual organs to be found only the viscera of what was once a human being is buried under the infamous Crippen house in London. However, Cora's friends and lavish reputation is what sets alarms that cause Scotland Yard to find Hawley Crippen and bring him to justice. This is not the whole story, however. There is the fact that had it not been for Marconi's invention and persistence about the benefits of wireless communication, the elaborate scheme not only to catch Crippen and his lover Ethel on the escape but also the ability to advance the ways by which Scotland Yard was able to track his every move it would not have been possible to thwart his otherwise sure-fire escape. Erik Larson tells the story as two separate stories that bring one of the greatest advancements of the century together with one of the most publicized crimes of the time. This was not an easy read. Even the author forewarns the reader at the onset that he provides a lot of detail about the history of the events. And, indeed, that he does. So, if you are not history buff or get lost in the overly detailed recounting of actual events, this book might prove a chore to get through. I found that it did dispense so much detail that at times, I struggled to get past Marconi's story to get to the "juicy" details of the Crippen's story. But, overall, the book was fascinating and the writing brilliant.