The Book of Air and Shadows: A
Novel by Michael Gruber
Thrill Ride With A View
A fire destroys a New York City rare bookstore—and reveals clues to a
treasure worth killing for. . . . A disgraced scholar is found tortured to
death. . . . And those pursuing the most valuable literary find in history are
about to cross from the harmless mundane into inescapable nightmare.
From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Tropic of Night comes a
breathtaking thriller that twists, shocks, and surprises at every turn as it
crisscrosses centuries, from the glaring violence of today into the dark
shadows of truth and lies surrounding the greatest writer the world has
ever known.
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First off, the reviewers who compared this to The Da Vinci Code did
everyone a disservice. If The Da Vinci Code is your ideal book, dont read
this one. It would be too hard for you.
The book is about how people working out a literary and historical mystery
discover themselves. It is built on the frame of a thriller, and, as a thriller, it
is craftsmanlike. All requisite fight scenes, romances, chases, and thrills
are skillfully provided. The artistry is in the embellishments: the dialogue,
the characters, bits of lucid or fantastical description, conversations on
moral fictions and the extent to which we shape ourselves after plays and
movies. The book is like one of those ceremonial weapons you find in
museums: something functional raised to art by its ornamentation.
The hero is split into a dark and a light character, a hero of air and
shadows. Jake Myshkin is the shadowy one. He is big, handsome,
charming, and strong and despises himself, having used these qualities to
find his ideal beloved and then to cheat on her till she left. He has a
hitherto untapped talent for violence, and he drives the plot the way
thrillers heroes always do. However, he is deeply damaged, and as the
book proceeds, the damage reveals itself. This revelation, it becomes
plain, is his only hope of redemption.
The other half of the hero is a kid, Albert Crosetti. He is infinitely less able
than Jake, and infinitely less damaged. Crosetti is like the younger brother
in fairy tales, the one who does foolish things so generously and open-
heartedly that he prevails.
This is one of those books that gets you excited about reading again. It
spins you out enthused, ready to read some Shakespeare or some history,
and then to come back for another Gruber novel.
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