The Poe Shadow

Despite all the bad reviews that this book had, I decided to read it and give it a chance. I was really really excited to read something about life -in this case, death- of Poe.
I started reading with many expectations and at first I thought it was interesting, but then ... The main character, even though history says that is not about him at all, never stops talking about himself, his life, his feelings, how good it is, etc.. and that's pretty tired and makes you hate the character, and I ask... Where on earth was Poe's story? I mean, It's not about Quentin! Because in that case the book will be called “Quentin's shadow”
Also, there are parts where the action is terribly slow and there is no action, but then becomes faster and faster and the words seem to be written in a hasty and meaningless way.
Moreover, the obsessive addiction has Quentin by Poe has no basis and his search is a little bit stupid in parts.

However, I must admit that some facts about Poe's life were interesting, but that was the only good book. I definitely do not recommend it!

I was intrigued by the use of Edgar A Poe's death as a plot for a fictional story and found it to be quite fascinating! There is a lot of detail and plot twists, and a plethora of characters to this novel that sometimes can become tedious and confusing in some parts. The entire story is told through the eyes of Quentin Clark, a lawyer and to be honest a somewhat lackluster character, but none the less the book held my interest and kept me interested enough to want to finish and find out how the mystery ended! I look forward to reading more from this author. :)

This book had a good attention to detail as I learned a lot about Baltimore and Paris in the late 1840s-1850s. I did find that the plot sometimes dragged a bit as Quentin's personal fate overshadowed the mystery of Poe's death, but it was nicely wrapped up at the end. I also liked Pearl's notes at the end as he explains how he used actual newspaper quotes and letters throughout the narrative.