Dizzy City: A Novel [Paperback]

Nicholas Griffin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 2008

The year is 1916, Europe is at war, and American industrialists are getting rich. Englishman Benedict Cramb deserts the trench warfare of northern France and stows away on an outbound transatlantic ship. When the ship docks in New York City, a place untouched and largely unaware of the horrors of war, he realizes this is the place to reinvent himself. In the process, he soon falls under the sway of the urbane and mysterious Julius McAteer, who sees in Ben his chance to finely hone the tools of someone who can master the art of the con. They concoct a ruse, pick their mark – a blustering midwestern cattleman named Henry Jergens – and the game is afoot. In the process, Ben falls in love with teh beguiling actress Katherine Howells, who in turn is connected to even more men of vast means. But the further Ben follows the money in New York, the closer he moves back to the war in Europe and his shattering experiences there. This page-turner is rich in historical detail and filled with suspense, romance and adventure.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Griffin (The House of Sight and Shadow) hits his stride in his fourth novel, a stylish and ambitious story of cons conning cons. Griffin begins in the WWI trenches in France, where Londoner Ben Cramb, in his early 20s and handsome, fights the Huns alongside his friends until an explosion wounds Ben and kills his three pals. After a stint in a British hospital, Ben flees to New York City, where he dreads being discovered as a deserter. Soon, he falls in league with Julius McAteer, a crafty Irish conman who involves Ben in his scheme to rip off Henry Jergens, a Kansas City businessman. But Henry is running his own con on Julius as payback for robbing Henry's mentor 18 years earlier. As the cat-and-mouse game heats up and Ben sets his sights on Henry's beautiful actress wife, the U.S. inches ever closer to involvement overseas. An antiwar theme arises from beneath the ruses, and the swift plotting is marred only by the proliferation of characters' aliases, which become difficult to keep track of. Griffin's in fine form, and the novel's historical detail and multifaceted plot should keep readers riveted. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Benedict Cramb survives the bomb that kills his three friends in France during World War I. Mistaken for an officer, he is returned to England, where, to avoid being sent back to the front when discovered, he jumps on the first ship that he comes to and ends up in New York City. There he comes under the wing of Julius McAteer, a gifted con artist. They pick a mark, Henry Jergens, lay out the con, and set things in motion. In the process, Ben falls in love with Katherine Howells, an actress who introduces him to a shady gentleman selling airplane engines, bringing the war a little too close for comfort. But the question soon becomes, Who is conning whom? Told through the various perspectives of Ben, Henry, and Katherine, the story takes on layers of complexity, as do the characters. Griffin also mixes historical events into the plot to keep the reader riveted and guessing until the very end. Dickie, Elizabeth --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Zoland Books (September 9, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581952287
• ISBN-13: 978-1581952285
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.8 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,026,449 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'The Sting' meets 'All Quiet on the Western Front', August 27, 2007

By 

Bartle B. Bull "Bartle B. Bull" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dizzy City: A Novel (Hardcover)

Just because Griffin's latest is set in New York City doesn't mean it doesn't have war on its mind. Most of the fiction I've read set during the First World War locates itself directly in the trenches, but Griffin is looking at different aspects of the war.

He takes a deserter, puts him down in Manhattan and then looks at the world of arms dealers and high society earners through the lens of a low-down gang of semi-sophisticated con artists. I say semi-sophisticated because every time you think one of them is up to something sharp, the plot will turn and you'll figure out there's a more aggressive shark swimming close by.

Old-fashioned, enjoyable, page-turning story-telling, a meeting of `The Sting' and `All Quiet on the Western Front', this is a fast and absorbing read. The characters - especially Ben Cramb, unforgettably intense and compelling - combine with the exciting plot and exotic locale to provide the best New York historical fiction for decades - more literary than "Billy Bathgate", more exciting than "The Alienist".

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Grifting along..., December 10, 2007

By 

Stephen E. Adams "cloudislands.com" (Lopez Island, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dizzy City: A Novel (Hardcover)

"Dizzy City" is the first novel I've read by Nicholas Griffin and it proved to be a fine story, indeed. Set during the First World War, it follows a shifting cast of shifty characters, each determined to perpetuate the big con. No one is quite who he seems to be, which makes the set pieces of historical perspective even more striking in their verisimilitude.

Griffin writes a tight narrative, using short passages and a changing third person point of view that eventually allows the readers to understand (and even empathize) with all of the principals in "Dizzy City."

This turned out to be a real find--a page-turner with literary and historical weight.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dizzy with Delight, September 1, 2007

By 

A. Fitzgibbons "Fitz" (London, England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dizzy City: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is a top notch novel, and Griffin, like a fine wine that Ben Cramb might use to seduce a mark, gets better and better as the years go by. As in all his books, the characterisations are fantastically strong but in Dizzy City you really sense that a huge amount of thought has got into each plot twist and turn. You will want to take your time reading Dizzy City. It's worth savouring every page, as it's that good. Let's hope that we don't have another four years to wait for Griffin's next effort. It's too much to expect him to bang out a book of this quality every nine months a la Lee Child,Stuart Woods or Tomas Otto but there's a shortage of historical novelists with his range and talent.