Customer Reviews

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is a collection of articles on various subjects (all true stories) focused around the basic theme of madness and obsession. The writing style is concise, straightforward, simple yet intelligent. I found it very easy to read and get completely absorbed in the stories. Here, briefly is what each article is about

- A scholarly expert on Sherlock Holmes and Holmes's creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is found dead. It may or may not have been murder.
- A Texas man is convicted and executed for allegedly setting fire to his home and killing his children. Subsequent investigation indicates he may have been innocent.
- A French con-artist pretends to be a missing American teen, even fooling the boy's parents. Or is there more to this case than meets the eye?
- A decadent postmodern Polish novel may be the author's confession to a cold-case murder.
- A New York City fireman on the scene of 9/11 when the towers fell is the only one from his company to survive. He has no memory of the event, and is obsessed with finding out whether his behavior that day was heroic or cowardly.
- A marine biologist in New Zealand will never give up until he captures a live specimen of the elusive giant squid.
- New York City's water supply comes through two large aqueduct tunnels. Both tunnels are old and in disrepair. It's a race against time to finish City Tunnel #3 before the old system fails.
- Forrest Tucker, the last of the classic hold-up men, is arrested for bank robbery at the age of 79.
- Rickey Henderson, record holder for most bases stolen in Major League Baseball, refuses to retire. He keeps on playing for a podunk minor-league team, and nobody can figure out why.
- The Aryan Brotherhood has become the most powerful and murderous prison gang in the country. Authorities are finally beginning to crack down on the gang, but how do you punish men who are already serving life sentences in maximum-security prisons?
- Youngstown, Ohio is still ruled by an old-school mafia network that has become obsolete nearly everywhere else.
- Emmanuel "Toto" Constant, leader of the notorious paramilitary group FRAPH which terrorized Haiti in the 1990s, is living freely among the very people who hate him most: the expatriate Haitian community in New York.

The stories are fascinating and very readable. The manuscript is incredibly clean; even in the preview copy I noticed absolutely no spelling or grammatical errors and only three typographical mistakes. I'm mentioning this only because I've seen published "final versions" of some books that were loaded with errors. To see a bound galley with almost no mistakes in it is very impressive. I can find not a single flaw with this book, nothing to complain about .. and it was enjoyable to read, so I give it a full 5 stars.

By and large, these essays are completely gripping, in a thinker's sort of way. David Grann creates a narrative out of his search for meaning and closure in far-flung topics, and it's clear that he has done a lot of original research here. He has interviewed the people whose lives touch the topics of his essays, attempting to bring order to the chaos of unsolved investigations and answers to baffling human behavior. In a few cases, I found myself wanting to pursue the topic. Especially in the case of the man who was executed for arson in Texas, the conclusion that he may have been innocent is of more than academic interest.

I found myself bringing up the narratives in this book in conversation--can you believe this? did you know that? do you think this could be true? And I love that. When a book grabs me beyond the moment; gives me something to mull over and chew on; entices me back for another narrative--then I know I have found a treasure.

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession is an unusual and fascinating collection of true stories. Each story is carefully researched and rich with detail.

We learn about:

* Mysterious Circumstances: The Strange Death of a Sherlock Holmes Fanatic Richard Lancelyn Green, the foremost expert on Sherlock Holmes, sought to find a missing collection Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's letters, diaries, and manuscripts. Before the papers are found, Green is found to have died in a mysterious fashion. Grann takes us to Green's life, his quest, his rivals, and the mystery of his death.
* Trial by Fire: Did Texas Execute an Innocent Man? Grann examines the case of Todd Willingham who was accused and convicted of having murdered his three daughters by arson. Decades after the fire, a scientific expert is able to determine what had caused the fire and to evaluate Willingham's guilt.
* The Chameleon: The Many Lives of Frederic Bourdin Frederic Bourdin successfully adopts a variety of ages, professions, and nationalities - American, French, Spanish...
* True Crime: A Post Modern Murder Mystery Described by the Polish press as "the perfect crime" the murder of a 35-year old businessman is linked to the graphic and shocking novel "Amok".
* The Squid Hunter: Chasing the Sea's Most Elusive Creature Grann recounts man's encounters with and search for the Giant Squid from ancient times to today. From descriptions in the Bible to Roman encyclopedias and Homer's Odyssey, descriptions of giant squid are plentiful and encompass different continents. Grann accompanies Steve O'Shea, a marine biologist from New Zealand in his quest to capture and raise giant squid.
* City of Water: Can an Antiquated Maze of Tunnels Continue to Sustain New York? Grann explores the caverns and tunnels over 600 feet underground to understand the system of waterways and pipelines that pump billions of gallons of water into New York City daily.
* Giving "The Devil" His Due: The Death Squad Real-Estate Agent Emmanuel "Toto" Constant, known in Haiti as "the devil" had terrorized his countrymen with organized violence and mass murders. When Toto Constant forced out of power and facing criminal charges, he escaped to the United States. Toto Constant lived in the open in New York City, worked as a real estate agent and mingled with fellow Haitians despite the clamor for his arrest and execution. Grann interviews Constant, his American allies, and the Haitians who seek his imprisonment for his crimes - and paints a fascinating account of Toto Constant.
* The Brand: The Rise of the Most Dangerous Prison Gang in America. I'm almost afraid to mention the Aryan Brotherhood, especially after reading about their organization, their methods, and their willingness to murder and maim with impunity. Based on interviews and research, Grann describes how the organization developed, expanded, and solidified its power base. The intricate methods of communication, the bloodthirsty acts of revenge, and the intentional intimidation have all built a terrifying organization of criminals with vast resources.

The old saying that truth is stranger than fiction certainly applies here. David Grann's carefully selected stories are intricate, complex and fascinating. These are stories that you'll read and want to share with those around you - whether to tell them about giant squids or the reach of the Aryan Brotherhood or the case of Todd Willingham, I am certain that this is a book that readers will want to recommend to friends and family. I recommend it highly myself to anyone with an interest in nonfiction, mysteries, or searching for something informative and fun to read.

ISBN-10: 0385517920 - Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday (March 9, 2010), 352 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.

This is a collection of already published articles by author David Grann, much in the same way as Malcolm Gladwell's "What The Dog Saw". Having read Grann's first book, "The Lost City Of Z", and finding it slow-paced and trodding until the very end, I wasn't sure whether or not this book would be a better read. I'm happy to say that it is - sort of.

The most interesting articles are the ones that are in Part One of the book, in particular "The Strange Death Of A Sherlock Holmes Fanatic" and "The Chameleon". It is the second article I mentioned that interested me so much that it still has me thinking about it, and also doing some further research on the subject of the piece (there's an interesting YouTube video from the subject, if you wish to look it up). Unfortunately, I found most of the following articles in Part Two and Part Three to lack the appeal of those aforementioned stories, with some of the articles actually seeming out of place in such a book (the most obvious example being the Rickey Henderson piece, "Stealing Time", which may deal more with ego than obsession).

So although I did enjoy the book, it's unfortunate that it is not able to keep up with the great storytelling that opens the book, and instead goes out with a whimper instead of a bang.

Very cleanly written, easy to read book. The subject matter is clearly laid out, characters are explained, events are linked together and the reader is left to decide what really happened. The author provides endless opinions (but doesn't get bogged down) and strong facts. (facts being hard to nail down as true facts in many cases) I found the subject matter to be dark, especially since the writing concerns true events. The tale of the father accused of burning his 3 children to death was very hard to read-I remember hearing about that case in the news. Tragic if he truly was innocent and had to suffer twice.

If you enjoy gripping real life drama that includes passion, madness and insanity, then you'll enjoy this read. A perfect page turner for a dark night.

This collection of essays is extremely readable due to the unusual nature of the topics. They range from stories about an author who details an actual unsolved murderl to a scientist obsessed with finding a live giant squid. Some, like a story about an aging baseball player obsessed with returning to the major leagues and one about the tunnel workers of New York City, are less sensational but fit nicely into the volume if only as a respite from some of the more bizarre stories (like a tale of lust for power and ensuing murder by the prison gang The Brand). The opening story, also a page turner, about the leading Sherlock Holmes scholar who turns up dead under circumstances reminiscent of a Holmes' mystery, is probably the most bizarre of the series.

The author writes in a sparse but descriptive style that quickly guides the reader to the usually thrilling conclusions.

Many readers believe that fiction is stranger than fact. However, after reading `The Devil and Sherlock Holmes', this opinion is likely to change. The author of this book, David Grann, is a staff writer for The New Yorker Magazine and he tackles a variety of strange subjects which make this book compelling.

The very first story, ironically, is about a Sherlock Holmes enthusiast who is upset about the disposition of some Arthur Conan Doyle papers. He is worried that someone is after him. He is found garroted in his home. Did he commit suicide or was he murdered? Grann goes into great detail about the people who are aficionados of Holmes and the lengths to which they might go in order to prove a point or get a hold of information.

Another essay is about a Texas man who is convicted of killing his three children by arson. He is put on death row. However, subsequent investigators of the case state that the fire was not caused by arson and certainly was not caused in the manner that the prosecution believes occurred. Mr. Grann presents a thrilling investigation of how arson is proved and how the legal system can err.

Themes of other essays include an author who may have planted clues to an actual murder in his novel; the conning of a con man; scientists stalking a sea monster, the ocean's most elusive creature; the world of sandhogs that dig underwater tunnels beneath New York City; a bank robber with a long career who is unwilling to retire; how the Aryan Brotherhood became a prominent and murderous gang in the prison system; the story of an aging baseball player;

The author states that "it is the messiness of life, and the human struggle to make sense of it, that drew me to the subjects in this collection". He goes on to say that "these stories offered hints, if not answers, to enduring questions about the human condition, and why some people devote themselves to good and others to evil". The book is a fascinating glimpse into the minds of men and what makes them tick.

I previously read David Grann's The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon and thought it was poorly-written and fairly mediocre for all of the hype it received. Being a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, I decided to give him another try with "The Devil and Sherlock Holmes." I had no idea what the book would be about. It turned out to be a collection of twelve articles by Grann, all previously-published, regarding true events surrounding a central theme of insanity or obsession. The book is broken up into three parts. Part 1 is about real life mysteries, part 2 is about people who are obsessed with something, and part 3 are about people who are seemingly "mad." The chapters are as follows:

Part I - "Any Truth is Better Than Infinite Doubt"

1 - "Mysterious Circumstances" (The New Yorker - Abstract) - Sherlock Holmes expert Richard Lancelyn Green is found strangled to death right before he is about to bid on a lost collection of Doyle's work.

2 - "Trial by Fire" (The New Yorker) - Cameron Willingham is convicted of arson and murder for setting fire to his house and killing his three children. However years after his death, new details reveal that his guilt may not have been as clear cut.

3 - "The Chameleon" (The New Yorker) - Frédéric Bourdin is a French serial impostor and con artist who assumes the identity of a missing Texas boy, and lives with the boy's parents for three months before the truth is discovered.

4 - "True Crime" (The New Yorker - Abstract) - Krystian Bala is a polish writer sentenced to jail for planning a murder, details of which she included in her first published book.

5 - "Which Way Did He Run?" (The New York Times) - A firefighter loses his memory of the events he experienced on 9/11 right before he went into the World Trade Center, and questions whether he acted heroically or not.

Part II - "A Strange Enigma is Man"

6 - "The Squid Hunter" (The New Yorker) - Steve O'Shea is a New Zealand marine biologist who is obsessed with capturing a giant squid

7 - "City of Water" (The New Yorker - Abstract)- A look at the New York City miners and construction workers (Sandhogs) racing to complete work on a new water tunnel before the old ones collapse.

8 - "The Old Man and the Gun" (The New Yorker) - Forrest Tucker, a career criminal who started when he was 15, has been in and out of jail, and continued to rob banks up until the age of 79.

9 - "Stealing Time" (The New Yorker - Abstract) - Ricky Henderson, a former Hall of Fame Major League baseball player with several records to his name, has such a passion for the sport that he seemingly refuses to retire.

Part III - "All that was monstrous and inconceivably wicked in the universe"

10 - "The Brand" (The New Yorker - Abstract) - How the Aryan brotherhood infiltrated US prisons, and the affect they have on them today.

11 - "Crimetown, U.S.A." (The New Republic) - A report on crime and the mafia network in Youngstown, Ohio, and specifically, former congressman James Traficant

12 - "Giving the 'Devil' His Due" (The Atlantic Monthly) - Emmanuel Toto Constant, the founder of a Haitian death squad in the 90s, is found living amongst the Haitian community in New York and working as a realtor

While all of these stories sound very interesting at first, I found that Grann just didn't hook me very much with any of them. The Sherlock Holmes and the Steve O'Shea stories were interesting, but all of the rest I could take or leave. There just wasn't much to the book that I couldn't have gotten off of Wikipedia, and his writing didn't expound much beyond that. Additionally, every one of these articles can be found online, although five of them from The New Yorker are abstracts or part of the article, but if you search enough you can find the entire article. And the online articles are better than the book due to the formatting and the inclusion of pictures (especially with the great photos of the New York City tunnels). I just think the stories themselves are sub par, and they all work much better in article format than thrown together in a book in order to capitalize on his success with his previous novel.

This is a great collection of twelve engrossing nonfiction articles. All were previously published so be warned as you may have read a few previously (I had read six of them but was pleased to revisit all). Among the most interesting were the death of a Holmes' aficionado, a talented imposter, New York's water supply, and an elderly stickup man. There is something for everyone within the collection though it skews heavily towards crime. Grann is a talented writer who respects his subjects and presents each story in an unbiased but passionate manner. The stories are perfect length for airplane reading and for picking and choosing among the topics.

I bought this for my boyfriend who reads all the time. I was overwhelmed at first as what to get him, but when I looked at the top selling non-fiction book list i found this book. My boyfriend is a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle fan, so i knew he'd be interested in at least one of the short stories. My boyfriend loved the whole book though and like the authors writing style. It was a great find and I'm glad I got it.