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 crime.

With his superb narrative skills, Erik Larson guides these parallel narratives toward a relentlessly suspenseful meeting on 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. Thunderstruck presents a vibrant portrait of an era of séances, science, and fog, inhabited by inventors, magicians, and Scotland Yard detectives, all presided over by the amiable and fun-loving Edward VII as the world slid inevitably toward the first great war of the twentieth century. Gripping from the first page, and rich with fascinating detail about the time, the people, and the new inventions that connect and divide us, Thunderstruck is splendid narrative history from a master of the form.

From the Hardcover edition.

埃瑞克·拉森总有种本事，在历史的织物中寻找属于他自己的线头，然后把它们打上结。也许他写书的乐趣就在于这种慧眼独具的发现乐趣。他的《艾萨克风暴》里边的线头分别是1900年德克萨斯州的飓风和美国气象局的诞生，畅销书《白城魔鬼》里配对的是1893年哥伦比亚世博会与美国第一宗连环杀人案，如今到了《雷击》，仍然沿袭《白城》的历史大事配戏剧性杀人案件的模式。有趣的是，拉森曾在《白城》后宣言不再使用这种双重叙述的手法，今次自食前言，看来是写上瘾欲罢不能了。