Amy B. (BaileysBooks) reviewed Satan's Circus: Murder, Vice, Police Corruption, and New York's Trial of the Century on + 491 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
I really wanted to like this book, but in the end I was simply indifferent and more than just a little bored.
I have to give Mike Dash credit. He certainly did his homework when it came to researching this book, but I also fear that he did too much. His main point: How chronic police corruption and grafting lead NYPD Lieutenant Charles Becker to the electric chair in 1915, was lost among they myriad of other characters, back stories, side stories, and detail.
The plot was not linear, although it really should have been. There was far too much jumping around and it really became difficult to keep the various timelines and characters straight.
Dash did a good job of laying bare the sordid underbelly of the Tenderloin at the turn of the century. Unfortunately, he made everything read less like a good historical novel and more like an oversized term paper in serious need of some heavy editing.
Dash gets an A for his effort, but I only award him 3 stars for his story.
I have to give Mike Dash credit. He certainly did his homework when it came to researching this book, but I also fear that he did too much. His main point: How chronic police corruption and grafting lead NYPD Lieutenant Charles Becker to the electric chair in 1915, was lost among they myriad of other characters, back stories, side stories, and detail.
The plot was not linear, although it really should have been. There was far too much jumping around and it really became difficult to keep the various timelines and characters straight.
Dash did a good job of laying bare the sordid underbelly of the Tenderloin at the turn of the century. Unfortunately, he made everything read less like a good historical novel and more like an oversized term paper in serious need of some heavy editing.
Dash gets an A for his effort, but I only award him 3 stars for his story.
