I was a big fan of Erik Larson's last book, The Devil and the White City. It told two stories. One, it was the about the creation of the 1893 World's Fair. Two, it was the tale of one of America's first serial killers, H.H. Holmes. The hook was that both stories played over time, 1893, and in the same place, Chicago. The dichotomy made for an interesting read. The fact that a stunning act of creativity could happen in at the same time and in the same place as something so vile and evil drew me in.
Thunderstruck travels along the same lines. In moves forward a few years, to the turn of the century, and acroos the sea, to London. But it also is a tale of stunning creativity-Marconi's creation of the wireless telegraph--and a murder both vile and evil--the North London Cellar Murder.
But, for some reason, I wasn't as in to Thunderstruck as I was Devil. I don't know why. Maybe because Marconi was more cold and Aloof than Devil's Burnham. Or maybe because Thunderstruck's killer, Hawley Crippen, was more sympathetic than Holmes.
Or maybe it was because the stories are not balanced. Both stories in Devil were interesting to me. So when it bounced back and forth between them, it kept my interest. In Thunderstruck, I found the murder story much more interesting than Marconi's. I couldn't wait to read more about Crippen. At times, I was bored reading about Marconi.
Overall, even though it was not as good as Devil, I liked it. But it would have been better if it focused exclusively on Crippen.
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