Thunderstruck

A true story of love, murder, and the end of the world's "great hush."

In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men--Hawley Crippen, a very unlikely murderer, and Guglielmo Marconi, the obsessive creator of a seemingly supernatural means of communication--whose lives intersect during one of the greatest criminal chases of all time.

Set in Edwardian London and on the stormy coasts of Cornwall, Cape Cod, and Nova Scotia, Thunderstruck evokes the dynamism of those years when great shipping companies competed to build the biggest, fastest ocean liners; scientific advances dazzled the public with visions of a world transformed; and the rich outdid one another with ostentatious displays of wealth. Against this background, Marconi races against incredible odds and relentless skepticism to perfect his invention: the wireless, a prime catalyst for the emergence of the world we know today. Meanwhile, Crippen, "the kindest of men," nearly commits the perfect murder.

With his unparalleled narrative skills, Erik Larson guides us through a relentlessly suspenseful chase over the waters of the North Atlantic. Along the way, he tells of a sad and tragic love affair that was described on the front pages of newspapers around the world, a chief inspector who found himself strangely sympathetic to the killer and his lover, and a driven and compelling inventor who transformed the way we communicate.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
Published: 10/24/2006
ISBN: 9781400080663
Pages: 480
Weight: 1.70lbs
Size: 9.44h x 6.38w x 1.50d

Review Citations: Library Journal Prepub Alert 06/15/2006 pg. 49
Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2006 pg. 666
Booklist 07/01/2006 pg. 5
Library Journal 08/15/2006 pg. 102
Publishers Weekly 08/14/2006 pg. 191
Library Journal 08/01/2006 pg. 102
School Library Journal 10/01/2006 pg. 191
People Weekly 12/18/2006 pg. 51
Reference and Research Bk News 02/01/2007 pg. 171