Thunderstruck - Erik Larson
Thunderstruck - Erik Larson
Non-Fiction
Pages: 480
Erik Larson is one of those writers who has a real knack for making history read like a novel. Part of it is his style, almost cinematic in the way he uses snappy sentences and short paragraphs and chapters, moving back and forth between his twin storylines, breaking off the narrative at critical moments, using plenty of foreshadowing language. And part, of course, is his choice of topics.
In this book he takes as his subject one of the famous of Victorian murders, Dr Crippen. The case itself is not exactly remarkable - the list of men who murder their wives and elope with a mistress is after all depressingly long. However, what made the case of Dr Crippen stand out is the use of the new technology of wireless telegraphy in his capture. The sensational drama of the chase, Dr Crippen and his mistress sailing the Atlantic oblivious to their fate whilst wireless was used to communicate and coordinate every aspect of the chase to police and the public on both sides of the Atlantic. The other strand to this narrative history, therefore, is the story of Guglielmo Marconi and his invention of the technology that would revolutionise communication and make the world a much smaller place, much to Dr Crippen's cost.
I have to confess, I am not remotely interested in science or the history of inventions and found little of any real note in the Dr Crippen case either. Therefore the fact that I so thoroughly enjoyed this book is true testament to the author. I've read several other of Erik Larson's books and they have all been equally as good. He isn't an historian I would turn to for any great depth or insight, but for a rollicking good read, and a true one, to boot, he's hard to beat.