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A review by wwatts1734
Thunderstruck by Erik Larson
4.0
In 1910, Dr. Crippen, an American homeopathic physician living in London, was tried and convicted for the murder of his wife Cora. It was the most sensational murder case in Britain since the Jack the Ripper murders 20 years earlier. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Crippen case was the OJ Simpson case of 1910. The most striking aspect of this case was the flight of Dr. Crippen and his girlfriend Ethel to Canada aboard the HMS Montrose, one of the luxury trans-Atlantic liners of the day. His capture was made possible by the invention of wireless telegraphy by Marconi only a few years before.
This book is a narrative of the case, juxtaposed with the story of Marconi and his development of wireless telegraphy in the late 19th and early 20th Century. Eric Larson is known for taking true crime tales and setting them in the historical context, as he did in The Devil in the White City. In this book, he has done an excellent job of giving the reader an excellent understanding of the case along with the development of wireless telegraphy that made the case solvable.
My only criticism of this book is that Larson takes Crippen's guilt for granted and does not really treat the arguments of his guilt versus innocence, which is the kind of thing that makes a true crime book fascinating. This book was written in 2007, and since its publication some fascinating evidence has emerged about the case, notably the fact that DNA evidence has shown that the corpse discovered in the Crippen basement could not have been Cora's since the victim was male. This evidence emerged since the publication of Thunderstruck, but I believe that Larson could have addressed the arguments regarding Crippen's innocence more forcefully.
Overall this book is a fascinating look at London in the first decade of the 20th Century, and I would recommend it to true crime fans as well as those interested in the Edwardian period in England.
This book is a narrative of the case, juxtaposed with the story of Marconi and his development of wireless telegraphy in the late 19th and early 20th Century. Eric Larson is known for taking true crime tales and setting them in the historical context, as he did in The Devil in the White City. In this book, he has done an excellent job of giving the reader an excellent understanding of the case along with the development of wireless telegraphy that made the case solvable.
My only criticism of this book is that Larson takes Crippen's guilt for granted and does not really treat the arguments of his guilt versus innocence, which is the kind of thing that makes a true crime book fascinating. This book was written in 2007, and since its publication some fascinating evidence has emerged about the case, notably the fact that DNA evidence has shown that the corpse discovered in the Crippen basement could not have been Cora's since the victim was male. This evidence emerged since the publication of Thunderstruck, but I believe that Larson could have addressed the arguments regarding Crippen's innocence more forcefully.
Overall this book is a fascinating look at London in the first decade of the 20th Century, and I would recommend it to true crime fans as well as those interested in the Edwardian period in England.