Jack S. (jack1) reviewed on 5/21/2009 + 67 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

David Liss is an exceptional writer of historical fiction with a whodunit theme. "A Spectacle of Corruption" is the second of a series taking place in the early 1700s in London. The protagonist is Ben Weaver, a "thieftaker" who in this particular story is framed for murder and sentenced to be hung. What I like about the books by Liss that I have read is that they are fun but also educational. Reading of what life was like in London in the early eighteenth century makes one realize how truly hard life was then and how far we have come since then. Sometimes the scenes are not pretty, but they seem pretty realistic for the time, when life was cheap and life expectancy was not high. The first in the series, "A Conspiracy of Paper" concerns the first stock market and the first crash. This one deals with the corruption of government and the election system. I strongly recommend the book.

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