The Devil's Company (Benjamin Weaver Series) [Abridged, Audiobook, CD] [Audio CD]

David Liss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 28, 2010 | Series: Benjamin Weaver Series (Book 3)

From the acclaimed author of The Whiskey Rebels and A Conspiracy of Paper comes a superb historical thriller set in the splendor and squalor of eighteenth-century London. In Benjamin Weaver, David Liss has created one of fiction’s most enthralling characters. The year is 1722. Ruffian for hire, ex-boxer, and master of disguise, Weaver finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, pitted against Jerome Cobb, a wealthy and mysterious schemer who needs Weaver’s strength and guile for his own treacherous plans. Weaver is blackmailed into stealing documents from England’s most heavily guarded estate, the headquarters of the ruthless British East India Company, but the theft of corporate secrets is only the first move in a daring conspiracy within the eighteenth century’s most powerful corporation. To save his friends and family from Cobb’s reach, Weaver must infiltrate the Company, navigate its warring factions, and uncover a secret plot of corporate rivals, foreign spies, and government operatives. With the security of the nation at stake, Weaver will find himself in a labyrinth of hidden agendas, daring enemies, and unexpected allies. With the explosive action and scrupulous period research that are David Liss’s trademarks, The Devil’s Company, depicting the birth of the modern corporation, is the most impressive achievement yet from an author who continues to set ever higher standards for historical suspense.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Edgar-winner Liss's enjoyable third thriller to feature the estimable Benjamin Weaver, an 18th-century London thieftaker (after A Spectacle of Corruption and A Conspiracy of Paper), Weaver finds himself working reluctantly for a mysterious gentleman, Jerome Cobb. On Cobb's orders, Weaver takes employment as a security man at the British East India Company's headquarters, where he tries to obtain information about the death of one Absalom Pepper, of whom virtually nothing is known. To keep Weaver in line, Cobb has blackmailed Weaver's friend Moses Franco, close confederate Elias Gordon and his beloved uncle Miguel. As usual, several beautiful women play roles in the complicated plot, which involves industrial spying and the international textile trade. Weaver's two previous adventures could sometimes bog down in arcane financial and political detail, but Liss keeps the suspense at full boil and the action rolling swiftly ahead. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

“A treat for lovers of historical fiction. . . .accomplished, atmospheric, and thoughtful.”—Washington Post

“As distinguished by the compelling voice of its narrator as it is by its vibrant detail.”—Denver Post

“Witty and stimulating”—Kirkus

“More than just a finely written mystery. Liss injects thoughtful discussion of issues that should resonate in the best university business courses. Corporate ethics at the British East India Company appear to resemble those of Wall Street companies this decade.”—San Antonio Express-News



From the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on CD Value Priced (June 28, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423327101
• ISBN-13: 978-1423327103
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 1.4 inches
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)

More About the Author

David Liss is the author six novels, most recently The Devil's Company. He has five previous bestselling novel: A Conspiracy of Paper, winner of the 2000 Edgar Award for Best First Novel, The Coffee Trader, A Spectacle of Corruption, The Ethical Assassin and The Whiskey Rebels. In 2008, at the United Nations Convention against Corruption in Bali, Indonesia, he was named an Artist for Integrity by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. No one is really sure why he should receive this honor or what it means, but it very possibly makes him the Bono of historical fiction. David Liss's novels have been translated into more than two dozen languages. He lives in San Antonio with his wife and children. Visist his web site at www.davidliss.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Most Remarkable Book...add Benjamin Weaver to the ranks of Sherlock Holmes,Hercule Poirot, Sam Spade,and James Bond!, July 7, 2009

By 

Bodenedelstahltx (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Devil's Company: A Novel (Hardcover)

One day while on vacation, I stepped into a local bookstore looking for a bit of literary adventure. I decided I wanted to read some fiction, instead of the usual history I tend to gravitate to. I randomly pulled off the shelf a book called the "Coffee Trader" by David Liss, not knowing a thing about the book or the author. The literary fates smiled upon me that day. I was amazed that a book set in 16th century Amsterdam could be so full on intrigue, suspense and absolutely thrilling to read. After that, I tracked down his other works of historical fiction, "The Conspiracy of Paper" and "The Spectacle of Corruption," and was introduced to one of the most fascinating heroes in literary fiction, Benjamin Weaver.

"The Devil's Company" the third in the Benjamin Weaver series, is a fantastic book! It follows the exploits of Benjamin Weaver, a private investigator, in London in the fall of 1722. Mr. Weaver is employed to avenge the honor of his client, through a set up in a game of chance. This is but the beginning of a tale so full of malice, intrigue and malevolent cleverness that one worries if Mr. Weaver's "derring do" will be enough to prevail. Also, I never thought the British East India Company could be such a vipers' nest of scheming. What transpires there has relevance today and illustrates that corporate perfidy is not a recent development. Mr. Weaver is compelled to go to work for "the Company" by a mysterious cabal. The stakes are incredibly high as Mr. Weaver has to sort through ever shifting facts and alliances, and his Herculean task ensnares the reader to such an extent that one is cautioned to set aside some serious reading time, lest one stay up half the night.

Mr. Liss has written a superlative book. He captures the feel and sound of 18th century London. His attention to detail and compelling story telling brings to mind Patrick O'Brian in his "Aubrey/Maturin" series, Jean-Christophe Ruffin in "The Abyssinian," or Stephen Harridans' "The Gates of the Alamo." If you enjoy a good mystery, attention to detail, a thriller, or just revel in a well written entertaining book, then "The Devil's Company" is the book

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mostly a Mystery, July 7, 2009

By 

Douglas S. Wood "Vicarious Life" (Monona, WI) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Devil's Company: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is the third book by Liss that has featured Benjamin Weaver, a retired prize-fighter and now a `thief-taker'. The book is set in London during the 1720s and centers around the British East India Company and their bitter struggles with local silk weavers and the `wool interest'.

Weaver is forced against his will to investigate the inner doings of the Company's Craven House headquarters. He knows not for whom is working nor does he have a clear picture of what he is looking for.

I characterize the book as historical mystery rather than historical fiction with the emphasis on mystery. Liss does provide some interesting glimpses into early 18th century London, especially the Rules of the Fleet, a law-free area around Fleet Prison where debtors were free from arrest and clandestine marriages took place without banns or license. Liss mostly neglected to explore the inner workings of the British East India Company.

Liss's primary focus, however, is the mystery. The first mystery is what is it all about. Who has taken control of Weaver, why and to what end? The book only slowly yields the answers and takes so many twists and turns along the way that the surprises eventually become tedious. A good surprise or two or three is one thing, but the ploy is overworked. It hardly paid to try to figure things out because as soon as you made some progress, Liss yanks out the proverbial rug. A better book would have had fewer plot twists and more historical detail.

If you really like intricate fluid mysteries and you enjoy historical fiction, this is the book for you. 3.5 stars.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another good addition to this series, July 8, 2009

By 

K. Huff (Radnor, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Devil's Company: A Novel (Hardcover)

The Devil's Company is the fourth Benjamin Weaver novel; this time, it's 1722, and Weaver must take on one of the world's largest corporations: the East India Company. Hired (though that's too mile a term) by a dangerous man named Jerome Cobb, he must infiltrate the Company to steal secret documents. What happens, however, is a complicated series of treachery and deceptions--some of them at Benjamin Weaver's expense.

This is the fifth novel I've read by David Liss, and I'd definitely say that his Benjamin Weaver books are much stronger than his stand-alone book, The Whiskey Rebels. Weaver, while not sympathetic or sometimes even likable, is a compelling character. One thing you always know will happen in a book in which he's featured is that he'll get double-crossed at some point, and The Devil's Company is no exception. Liss excels at description, too, and I enjoyed his depiction of 1722 London.

The mystery itself however, is a bit predictable, and the disguises don't always hide people's identities all that well. Also, I was a little frustrated by Absalom Pepper's cotton machine mentioned in the book; it's never actually described, so that it would seem more real. The author bites off a lot in writing about the East India Company, and I wish he had described it more in this book. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the characters and most of the story. Weaver has a biting, sarcastic wit, and he had me laughing at many places in the novel; he's is the reason why I keep turning back to this series.