I've read several of the author's books and thoroughly enjoy his writing: The Demon of Unrest, The Splendid and the Vile, In the Garden of the Beast, and Dead Wake, He uses original documents, transcripts, and documented facts to tell the story of a time and place. He usually weaves a piece of history with a crime story that keeps you engaged throughout the book.
This novel tells of the invention and implementation of wireless telecommunication invented and commercialized by Marconi, a very young Italian who persisted in bringing it to the public. His story is told in parallel to a notorious murder in London in the early 1900s.
Larson gets bogged down sometimes in the minutes of his sources. I admire the way he knits together actual dialogue and reports from the past into a coherent whole in the context of the times. It took more than a third of the book to understand how the murder and Marconi's invention converged, probably because I wasn't familiar with English history of the time.
It was a satisfying read and I enjoyed learning. I wish there had been more explanation of how wireless transmission actually works and why.
Published: 2006 Read: 2026 Genre: History
