Thunderstruck

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.