Thunderstruck

4.5* I enjoyed this book though it did take some time to truly get into it. It did a good job of telling Beth’s two storylines much like the author did in his other work “The Devil in the White City,” but at the start doesn’t really show how the two are connected. This is resolved though as the reader gets into the later stages of the book. A good book for those interested in the history of wireless communication, or an interesting true crime story.

I LOVED Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City, so was really looking forward to reading Thunderstuck and it did not disappoint! Mr. Larson just has such a wonderful way of combining stories and making them compelling to read. That being said, the two separate stories in Thunderstruck (Dr. Crippin/Marconi) did not meld as well as those in The Devil in the White City, so it was like reading two seperate stories that connected for the briefest moment at the end. Because of that I found Thunderstruck to be slightly less enjoyable on the whole, but still a very entertaining and if you are a fan, worth the read!

This is my third Larson book to read (and enjoy). He has a knack for blending historical fact with narrative to create fascinating story lines.

Erik Larson is best known for his amazing bestseller, “The Devil in the White City,” which is compelling and reads like fiction. Four years after “TDITWC” was published, Erik Larson followed up with “Thunderstruck.” This book was one of the first 10 books I marked as “to read” on Goodreads after signing up in 2009. As part of my attempt to reduce the size of my to-read list, I've been checking out titles that have lain fallow lo these 16 years.

For some time, I've been interested in learning more about Marconi because most of my knowledge comes from references on shows like Nova or fleetingly in other books and movies. Here, I thought, is the perfect way to do just that while reading some related true crime from an author whose previous released I absolutely loved. Further, it looks like Erik Larson spent a great deal of time researching the book.

Should have been a home run, right?

So, it is with what feels like tremendous guilt that I neither enjoyed nor can finish “Thunderstruck.” Authors today, and probably for most of history since the printing press was invented, are constantly under pressure to produce again and again, especially when they achieve a runaway success like “TDITWC.” I am not sure if that is the case with “Thunderstruck” or if I am just not in the focused mindset to give the book the attention it may need.